The Lost Princess
by Crossover Diva
Summary: This is the story of Tanga-denka...the lost Saiyan princess. She has been lost in time and space due to the interference of Frieza. Will she be able to forge her own path and find some semblance of family? Or will she remain a lost entity for eternity? Read on to find out about the sister Vegeta lost and how her presence could change all of DBZ history.
1. Chapter 1: Tesselation

**Disclaimer: I own the main character of this story. And it will be a story that revolves around her more so than any other character in the DBZ Universe. She will eventually enter the actual time stream of the rest of the characters but that won't happen until chapter 17. Yes, you heard correct. So if you don't like long stories with lots of character development, this may not be a story for you. But if you do, I think you're going to enjoy it. I also apologize for the weak beginning, but if you're hero was capable of coming right out of the starting blocks a winner, it wouldn't be much of a story, would it?**

**Chapter 1: Tessellation**

The girl sighed as she sunk further into her seat in the office. She ran a hand through the brilliant red hair and nervously tucked the loose strands back behind her ear. They didn't stay there long before resuming their position of standing on end. She hated her hair. It spiked up in random directions and the closest she could come to controlling was to pull most of it back into a ponytail. Even then, her bangs would stand on end creating a frame around her face and the ponytail itself stood on end and straight back. What she hated more than her hair though were the people who thought that she was trying to get attention with it. It wasn't like she tried to spike it, it just happened. And no one seemed to care that she'd much rather go completely unnoticed by _everyone._

Meanwhile, she had the school secretary sending her nasty glares from over the counter and all she could do was bow her head further as she kicked her legs. She was so short that her feet didn't even drag across the floor as they swung. It was hard being fifteen and only 4'1". She kept praying that one day she'd be graced with a growth spurt that would make her look her age rather than like a little middle school kid. There was a ruffling of papers as the secretary gave the girl another sharp look. She had a feeling the paperwork had something to do with the wrecked row of lockers in the west wing.

It wasn't her fault that the locker had jammed. And it certainly wasn't her fault that when she'd attempted to knock whatever it was jamming her locker loose that her locker and the ones on either side of it had been ripped free of the wall and then so severely dented that they were nearly bent in half. It had been a moment of frustration and apparently she really didn't know her own strength. Ever since she'd gotten out of the hospital, she'd had a nasty habit of breaking things, like her father's truck door, the refrigerator, the trash can—or at least what was left of that. And this was certainly not helping her to fly below anyone's radar. And if there was anything worse than being in trouble at school, it was being in trouble at home where most of these accidents kept happening.

"Tessellation, would you please step in here for a moment?" Tessa stood up with more than slight apprehension. She followed her principal into his office and flopped down into the chair opposite of his. She couldn't bring herself to look him in the face so she stared at his nameplate instead. _Principal Dave Rickmeyer_

"I swear I didn't mean it…I swear…"

Principal Rickmeyer held up a hand to silence her that she caught out of the corner of her eye. "I don't need an explanation. What I do need is a promise that you'll restrain from attacking public property in future outbursts."

Her head swiveled around to glare at her principal. "An outburst?! It was an accident and if you'd only listen instead of…" Again she was cut off by being shown the palm of his hand and she threw herself back against the chair in disgust and stared up at the ceiling. It was made of the flimsy tile material that kids liked to toss pencils into like a dart board.

"Now, Miss Reynolds, I'm going to have to call you father and discuss this with him. There are some serious emotional problems behind this and I hope that together we can get to the bottom of it." Tessa sat up about to protest but thought better of it. "Perhaps this has to do with feelings of abandonment. It's normal for adopted children…"

Tessa had had enough, "Look, this has nothing to do with my being adopted—or my mom. And you don't get it, do you? You can't call my father because he's not going to want to talk about my _issues_ with you." Tanga held up her fingers in midair to make quotation marks around the word 'issues' and only received narrowed eyes from her principal in response. "And when I get home, he's going to take a far less cuddly approach than you seem to have imagined."

"There's no need to overreact now."

Tessa popped up and out of her seat in the blink of an eye. The principal obviously didn't do his homework when dealing with families. "I'm not…ever since my mom died, and he lost his job, Dad's been leaning on the bottle and if he's good and drunk he'll…he'll…well God only knows what he'll do." Tessa suddenly was gripped by the flashback of how she'd wound up in the hospital to begin with. The fear was like a vice on her lungs and she couldn't breath let alone speak anymore. She quickly turned on her heel and stormed out of the room before Principal Rickmeyer could say anymore.

_God, who does that guy think he is. Screw school and him too._ With that thought in mind she turned the corner at the end of the hall and walked right out of the building as the secretary rose to her feet to watch through the glass walls.

* * *

Tessa groaned as she turned onto the final block on her walk home. Her father was waiting for her, sitting in a lawnchair on the porch, beer bottle in hand. She forced herself to look normal as if nothing was wrong even though she was coming home before lunchtime. She forced herself to put the normal bounce in her step as she bounded up the steps and onto the porch. She opened the screen door only to have it pushed shut again.

"Hi Daddy." She turned slowly to look up at him. This was definitely one of the days she felt dwarfed by her 6'2" tall father. Not even the tallest of the spikes in her hair reached his arm pits.

"Don't give me that shit." He spun her around by her shoulder and pushed her back against the siding. "What the hell were you thinking, huh? I just got a call from the school. You know how much money they want? Maybe you haven't noticed but we don't have that much extra cash lying around for you to destroy the school." His expression was contorted into fury, his nose gleaming red from the alcohol and the blood shot eyes did nothing to relieve the fierce look.

"It was an accident, promise, Daddy." He narrowed his eyes with disbelief and Tessa cringed, pressing into the wall hoping that it could provide her some protection. Either that or she could melt into it.

"Just like my truck?" Tessa nodded her head avoiding the urge to look at the red truck parked curbside with the passenger side door smashed in. Her father took her nodding badly and backhanded her hard enough to knock her head off the side of the house.

Tessa blinked in surprise as her breathing became harder from the rush of adrenaline that coursed through her veins. Her surprise did not come from the blow, she had actually been expecting that, but rather her surprise was rooted in that she hadn't really felt it. Of course she knew she'd been hit but there was no stinging, no throbbing from where her head bashed into _and_ through the siding.

When he'd gone to strike her, he's released his grip on her shoulder and she used the chance to slide to the side a little and allowed her eyes to glance to the side. She could see the broken siding and then her gaze quickly shifted to her father whose face was rapidly turning redder with anger and frustration. _What's up with me going through walls lately?_

"Now look what you've done. Everything winds up broken except for you, you useless bitch." He raised his hand to strike her again but Tessa brought her arm up to block it at the last second. Instead of his fist connecting with her jaw he struck her forearm and reeled back howling in pain.

Tessa could only stare. Once again, she knew she'd been hit but felt nothing. When her father had finished rubbing his reddening knuckles he stepped forward and grabbed her arm pushing the sleeve of her shirt back. "What the hell you made of, girl? Goddamn steel?"

He moved to strike her again but Tessa was faster. She delivered a swift punch to his gut, which sent him falling back, coughing and hacking before he fell unconscious. She gasped at how easily it had happened without her even really thinking about it and stood staring down at her hand as she slowly opened and closed her fist in wonder. Her vision's focus then shifted from her hand to her father's still body lying on the porch and she quickly glanced around to see if anyone else had seen her. Seeing no one else on her street block, she turned and ran inside the house and raced up the stairs to her room where she flung herself down onto the bed, burying her tear streaked face into the pillows.

She tried to make sense of everything but there was no sense to be had in the situation. She may have just inadvertently killed her father and had simply left his body lying out in the open right in front of the house for anyone to see. How stupid could she be? Whatever she was going to do, she needed to act quickly.

She pushed herself up onto all fours and stared across the room into the mirror. Reflected in it was a chiseled face framed in wild red spikes of hair and dark eyes that were almost black. A sharp pointed nose finished off the 'don't mess with me' look. She looked nothing like her father who had brown hair in a military cut and round, ruddy features. Nor did she look like the woman in the photo frame with her soft features and auburn hair.

She knew she was adopted but sometimes she had to wonder where from. She didn't really look like anyone. She certainly wasn't normal looking that was for sure. If she didn't know better, she'd have thought she was some kind of alien, not human at all. But aliens weren't real…just stories made up to scare kids.

She decided to stop wasting time and leave before he woke up, that is if he was even still alive. He was one of three things from what she could tell-dead, unconscious, or in a coma. She wasn't sure if she really wanted him to wake up though. If he was still alive he'd be really pissed and would come after her. But if he was dead, then she'd be able to just move on with life and not a soul would miss her. That much she knew. The more she thought about it the more she hoped that she'd accidentally killed him.

_I just hope the police would buy that load of crap._ She crossed the room to her dresser and began pulling out what few things she'd take with her. She stuffed a few changes of clothes in her back pack and tossed it over her shoulder before heading back down the stairs. As she breezed through the door for the last time she grabbed her windbreaker. She forced herself to glance down at her father's prone body again after she'd reached the sidewalk. She had to crane her neck to see the back of his head. She sighed hoping it would be a while before anyone found him because it would buy her more time to get away.

She didn't know where she wanted to go, just knew that she wanted to go as far away from the here and now as possible. She didn't know how possible that wish was.

* * *

Tessa found herself sitting at the bus station wondering why she had to be so stupid. She never once thought to grab some cash before walking out of the house. She couldn't go back, that was certain. She looked around and saw no way of sneaking onto a bus. She didn't care if she got kicked off in another city but she had a feeling she wouldn't make it ten feet from the bus station. She sighed as she flopped back against the bench in self disgust. It just wasn't her day.

She decided that there really wasn't that much she could do and it was now getting late. She started watching the people around her hurrying to catch the last buses for the night. She figured that she'd eventually grow bored and fall asleep. And it would be better to sleep as long as she could here where there'd be a roof over her head before she was kicked out.

However she couldn't help but grow curious by a single person who seemed determined to blend in but was finding it to be impossible. He was a giant at seven foot something. She shuddered at the thought of how much taller—probably a good three feet taller—he was than her. The stranger kept close to the walls to avoid mixing in with people and was moving past her bench from behind. She whipped her head back around to look over her other shoulder so she didn't lose him and watched his progress.

He didn't seem to be moving towards the buses but in an almost erratic path as if he was looking for someone. Curiosity really got the best of her as she found herself standing up from the bench, her carefully packed bag abandoned behind her. She moved quickly through the crowd to follow him but she kept getting pushed around because people were too preoccupied to notice some short kid but she was able to easily push right back.

"Watch where you're going!"

"Sorry."

She turned her head to look back at the woman she'd accidentally knocked to the ground and when she turned back she lost sight of the giant man. _What the…how could I lose a guy like that? He was huge!_ As she reached the wall she continued to search over the crowd but couldn't spot him again. She sighed as she leaned back and found herself to be leaning on someone instead. She slowly tilted her head back and gasped at the site above her.

A wrinkled face with wide eyes and beady little pupils was staring back down at her. He wore a brimmed ball cap and a high collared coat that shadowed his face from most but it was impossible for Tessa to not notice this close up. "You're…you're green."

"Now's not the time for stating the obvious." Despite his frail looking age, he took a firm grasp of her upper arm and led her away from the bus stops and the crowds. For the first time, running away seemed like a terribly bad idea. She was going to be kidnapped, raped, murdered, and God only knew what else… "Stop trying to resist. I won't hurt you." She stopped dead in her tracks at his business like tone and he allowed her to. They were already on the other side of the road and a good ways down when they'd stopped. No one would hear her scream but she wasn't sure if she needed to anymore.

"You know it's funny…I was just convincing myself that aliens don't exist." The green man made no response except for a small twitch at the corner of his mouth. She watched curiously as he removed the long trench coat and ball cap. Long pointed ears and antenna like things stood on top of his head. He wore a loose fitting purple outfit with a blue belt and before her eyes a great white cape and turban appeared. He paused briefly to put them on before he started walking again. "Okay, if we're going to be at this for awhile, we might as while get to know each other. My name's Tessellation, but everyone calls me Tessa."

"Piccolo."

"What?"

"My name is Piccolo."

"Oh…that's different." He turned his head to look down at her and she jumped forward plastering a grin on her face. "In a good way. Totally cool. Love the instrument too." He shook his head as she practically skipped and jogged to keep up with his long stride. "I guess you're wondering why I ran away."

"No."

"Not the slightest bit curious?"

"No. I knew that you knocked out your father. He's in the hospital already and should recover quickly."

"Were you stalking me? 'Cause that's just creepy."

"No, I could sense your power. For someone who doesn't do any training, you're extremely strong."

"Hey, I do enough. I walk to and from school and I play softball in the summer. You know there are kids who just sit on their butts and watch TV."

Piccolo gazed at her appraisingly and shook his head as he continued walking. "What I'm trying to tell you is that you're unnaturally strong when compared to other humans. You have a gift."

"A gift for what? All I seem capable of is destruction of personal and public property and for it, I get into a _lot _of trouble," Tessa grumbled as she crossed her arms over her chest. Her expression was set with her mouth forming a thin line as her brow furrowed.

"You could be a great fighter."

"Why would I want to do that? I mean, I get it; I don't exactly have a plan right now. But of all things I could decide to do with my life, becoming a fighter wasn't even scratching its way onto the bottom of the list. Sorry if I'm not ready to play the Rocky to your Paulie," she said rolling her eyes.

Piccolo just looked at her in confusion not catching the reference. "It's been a long time since I recognized a fighter with your potential."

"Potential, huh? I think that's the first time that word's ever been applied to me." She cast him a sideways glance as she pondered the possibilities. "Of all the people I could have walked out of that bus station with, I didn't pick the child molestor, I didn't pick the woman who'd turn me in to child protective services, oh no, I picked the alien who wants to turn me into a professional fighter. Where are you from anyway?"

"My race is from a planet called Namek. My father came here thousands of years ago and became one of Earth's guardians."

"And what exactly did you do?"

"I along with other warriors fought for Earth's peace from foreign threats."

"Foreign as in intergalactic?" Tessa asked. Piccolo nodded. "So you're pretty damn old, huh?"

"You could say that. We Namekians tend to live a long time naturally and I've found other ways to augment my lifespan."

"Huh. How can I believe you? A couple thousand years ago the Earth was in the Stone Age."

"No. The Earth regressed back to the Stone Age after we lost in a battle. At one time, the Earth was just as, if not more, advanced than it is now."

"Now that's stuff they don't tell you in school." She furrowed her brows further in contemplation. "Why should I go with you?" she asked suddenly.

"Why would you not? You certainly didn't look like you had any plans."

"I-I could. I only agreed to take a walk with you. Nothing more," Tessa argued stubbornly as she planted her hands on her hips. Piccolo shrugged and turned walking back the way they came. "Hey! Wait! Where are you going?" Tessa ran after him waving her hand for him to stop.

"If you're not interested in my training you, then I thought I'd just walk you right back to the bus station."

"Well, hypothetically," Tessa started, "if I did go with you to train. Where exactly would we be going?"

Piccolo smirked realizing he had her attention again. "I'd have to take you there. Think of it as an extended camping trip if you will."

"Okay, I'm listening. How would we get there?"

"Seeing as I found you sitting in a bus station, I take it you don't know how to fly yet. So I suppose I'd have to carry you."

"Wait, I could learn to fly? That's so cool." Tessa began racing ahead, her arms spread out wide as she imitated a soaring hawk, winding this way and that along the birm of the road.

Piccolo narrowed his eyes at the girl's suddenly peaked excitement. Had it really been that simple all along to get her hook, line, and sinker?

* * *

Piccolo couldn't believe he was doing this. Whatever had driven him to find the source of this power was either sentimentality from old age or the fact that he was bored. But now it was something else. She looked so familiar and yet so different at the same time. Despite her age, there was still a bit of childish wonder to her that reminded him so much of his old friend, Goku. At the same time, there was a raw, stubborn nature that reminded him of a very different Saiyan. But at the same time, he could make the claim that she reminded him of Krillin in her wise cracking manners. There was no way of knowing where the girl had come from and why she possessed such enormous natural strength.

She'd fallen asleep as he carried her while flying over the earth below. She would need a lot of training but if her powers were this great without any help at all, she could be just as strong if not stronger than some of the others, certainly some of the weaker fighters he'd known like Yamcha and Tien. And for a while, their strengths had been sufficient to ward off many enemies. He had no way of knowing whether or not karma would balance itself out as it seemed to do. Perhaps that was the true reason for seeking her out. It seemed that as Goku had trained and become stronger, so had the quality of his enemies and those that sought to do harm to Earth. It could just be the balance of forces playing out on Earth that each time a fighter arose who was capable, they were to be challenged in any way possible.

Looking down at her he couldn't help but once again be struck by the familiarity of her features. She had sharp features in her facial structure, her mouth was small and pointed like her nose, but her forehead was broad with a sharp widow's peak coming down across it. And oh, was she stubborn. He couldn't believe that she'd had the gall to insist that she might have something better to do than come train. It was plainly obvious to anyone that she was a child without a cause and anywhere to go. But he could tell that her stubbornness would be of benefit when it came to training. It would make her more determined.

As he watched she yawned and buried her head into his arm with a small sigh. It had been a long time since he'd trained anyone and now he was training a girl. He had to wonder what he'd gotten himself into.


	2. Chapter 2: Training Day

**Disclaimer: I do not own Piccolo. However, I do own a clarinet.**

**Chapter 2: Training Day**

Tessa opened her eyes and stretched lazily. She blinked a few times looking around her at the grassy field that she'd woken up in. "How'd I get here?" she asked the open air. She got no response and she flopped back down into the long grass and stared up at the clouds passing over head. After a few more minutes of contemplation she began to think about the night before. It was so strange she had to wonder if it had even really happened. For all she knew, she'd sneaked aboard a bus, been found out, and wound up in this field for the night.

Her stomach was growling and she realized she hadn't eaten anything in twenty-four hours. She was starved. As she stared at the clouds imagining them as hamburgers, fries, and sodas she saw a speck of green move through them and rubbed her eyes in disbelief. It was too big for a bird. As it moved closer to her she quickly realized the green spot was a person of some kind. She was sitting straight up and was pushing herself backwards along the ground as the person approached her location swiftly. She spared a second to glance over her shoulder to look for cover but there was nothing but large rock formations and they were too far away to reach in time.

In a last ditch effort, she stood up and did her best to look tough in a fighting pose. The person finally landed a few feet from her and he smiled at her baring a pair of fangs. She blinked a few times realizing that she must not have dreamed up her encounter of the third kind last night. "Piccolo?" Her fists lowered to her sides as her fears subsided.

He nodded with a look of slight amusement. "It's a good day to start training."

Tessa's stomach gurgled and grumbled in protest. "How about some food first? I think I'm more likely to pass out." She wrapped her arms over her stomach as if trying to hold in the noise.

Piccolo shook his head and held one hand out to the side. The same way that his cape and turban had appeared out of thin air, a loaf of bread and apples now appeared. He tossed them to her and she did her best to juggle the items, but resulted in dropping one of the apples. She quickly sat down on the ground and inhaled the food without protest. Even basic foods were better than nothing. "How'd you do that?" she asked as she stuck a large chunk of bread in her mouth and began to chew.

"It's called magic materialization."

"Well, that's descriptive enough I suppose. Can you teach me?"

"Unfortunately not."

Tessa frowned as she began munching on one of the apples. She chewed it down to the core before tossing it aside and starting the second one. "Can I learn to fly?"

"Yes, once you've learned to manipulate your ki."

Tessa's eyebrow popped but she remained silent as she continued to eat her apple contemplatively. "What's ki?" she asked finally breaking the silence once more.

"It's the source of your inner strength. Your body's energy that you can harness to create blasts or increase your strength." Again, she gave another thoughtful nod. "Are you ready to start?" Piccolo asked as she'd managed to chew the second apple down to its core as well. The girl stood up and tossed the apple over her shoulder and assumed a fighting stance much like the ones she'd seen in kung fu movies. Piccolo's shoulders drooped as he gazed at her. "What are you doing?" he snarled.

"Um…fighting?" Tessa sounded unsure of herself as she tightened her posture, the muscles flexing beneath the skin. This was going to require far more effort on his part than he'd thought.

"You want a position that's comfortable and not so open to attack. A baby would be able to defeat you like that."

Tessa became lax as she gazed up at Piccolo in frustration. "Then what exactly do you want me to do? Because I have no clue. You're the one who seems to think I'm some natural born fighter. Maybe you're just wrong," she muttered.

Piccolo growled in the back of his throat as he stepped forward and readjusted her arms and legs so that she was standing facing forward, the right foot slightly back for balance. Her arms were nearly straight at her sides except for a small bend at the elbow.

"But how could this possibly protect me from attacks? I'm completely open," Tessa sputtered as she tilted her head to the side and gazed down at her open chest area.

"But you can move easily to defend any part of your body."

"Oh. Right. I guess so."

Piccolo stepped back before charging her in an attack. She crossed her arms in front of her and could feel the blow as she was sent flying backwards. She squeezed her eyes shut waiting to fall back down but she instead slammed into one of the rock formations. She slumped to the ground rubbing the back of her head in agony. When she pulled herself back up Piccolo was standing over her and she could see that they were several hundred yards from where they'd started.

"Little hard there don't you think?"

"It's the only way I know to train. You'll eventually get tired of getting knocked around and defend yourself properly." She pouted at him but regained her defensive stance and waited for his next attack. He attacked her the same way but instead of pulling her arms tight across her chest she held them out and used her left to deflect his blow to the side. Instead of becoming airborne she began to slide across the ground leaving deep ruts, but she only moved a few yards.

"That better?"

"Yes, but not good enough." Again and again he attacked her until she finally completely deflected the blow but as she did, he kneed her in the stomach, which caused her to go straight up into the air. When she came back down he caught her as she clumsily threw her arms around his neck in a death grip. Piccolo peeled her hands away and set her back down on her feet.

"What was that?!" she squealed in agitation. She didn't like being tossed through the air so much. It tended to hurt when she reconnected with the solid ground.

"Do you really think that someone's only going to attack one move at a time? They're going to combine them and you're going to have to keep up."

"I'm gonna look like a purple dinosaur tomorrow from all these bruises," she muttered darkly as she rubbed her arms. Even though his punches had been deflected, the grazes still hurt like hell.

"You need to take this more seriously and stop playing games." He attacked yet again using the same combination. As she learned to deflect each attack, he'd add another forcing her to think more, and become faster.

After a while Tessa and Piccolo were sparring for a half an hour at a time. Out of frustration she threw a punch at him breaking up the rhythm of his attacks. He caught her fist and flipped her to the ground in a single swift movement. She blinked stupidly as she stared up from the ground and rubbed the back of her head where she'd hit it.

"What were you doing?" he asked releasing his grip on her hand and arm and she allowed it to drop limply across her chest as she laid on her back blinking up at him.

"Gee, I thought you'd recognize an attack when you saw one." She stood up and brushed herself off sneaking an upward glance through her eyelashes at Piccolo's reaction. There was that twitch of a smile again but it quickly changed to his usual straight face.

"You're going to have to be a lot stronger before you can actually attack me with any result," he lectured, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Well, then I'll just have to be stronger." She put her hands on her hips in defiance but Piccolo waved his hand and walked away.

"We're done for the day. Get some rest. It'll be a long day tomorrow."

"That's it? We're done…" But Piccolo was already airborne leaving her in the middle of nowhere. "Great! It was fun! We should do this again—real soon!" Tessa shouted after him, managing her most sarcastic tone as she waved. _That child molester keeps sounding better every day. _She allowed her arm to drop as she crossed her arms tightly over her chest as she continued to stare in the direction he'd gone before sighing and gazing at her surroundings. One place seemed as good as any other to drop to the ground for sleep because she certainly hadn't been left with anything to make her stay in the wild more comfortable.

* * *

Piccolo came back to find Tessa sleeping fitfully. She was muttering things in her sleep and tossing and turning under the lightweight windbreaker she was using for a blanket.

"Veggie…Don't…I'm sorry…" He leaned over as she flipped over in her sleep and placed a hand over her head. Instantly his head was filled by her dream.

_A small red-headed Saiyan girl no older than five stood in a hallway by herself as a boy about two years older walked away from her. Like him, her tail was wrapped around her waist in typical Saiyan fashion. "Please, Veggie, I'm sorry."_

_"I told you to stop calling me that, girl."_

_"Just don't do it, Veggie. You can't listen to Frieza anymore. It's wrong." Silent tears began to spill down the girl's cheeks and a young Vegeta stopped to look back._

_"Stop that. If he sees you crying…" Even this young, Vegeta already had a leering tone to his voice but it softened for this girl. The girl's crying became hysterical and Vegeta sighed as he came back to comfort her. He knelt down in front of her and rubbed her shoulders gently. "Hush now. I'll be back. Promise."_

_She sobbed once more before she nodded. "Okay." Vegeta stood up and wiped the tears from her eyes before turning to leave once more. She turned to go back the other way only to come face to face with Frieza himself. "Lord Frieza…I…I"_

_"Enjoying a walk Princess Tanga?" There was a snide tone to his voice as he placed a rough hand on her head and forcefully led her. _

_She choked back on a sob forcing herself to remain strong. "No sir, I just…" Her face flushed with frustration as she stood up to one of the most powerful beings in the universe._

_"You were just what?"_

_"I'm sorry, I won't do it again." She hung her head in a way only a child can._

_"You're right, you won't. Because if you do, you'll never see your brother again."_

_"Oh don't hurt him! I'll be good, I swear. Just don't hurt Veggie!"_

_"Veggie, how cute."_

Piccolo pulled out of the dream with Frieza's laughter still ringing through his head. Could this girl really be a Saiyan princess? It certainly would explain why she was stronger than the average human. But as far as the Saiyan standards went, she was rather weak actually. And how did she end up here…and now? The dream he'd witnessed had to have taken place thousands of years ago because there was no denying that he'd just seen both Frieza and Vegeta. Although witnessing Vegeta as a mere child seemed almost absurd.

Another thing suddenly occurred to Piccolo as well, at one point Vegeta had cared…a lot. He shook Tessa's shoulders to awake her and she opened her eyes groggily. "Did I sleep in?" Her voice was husky from sleep as she batted her eyes.

"No."

She yawned and stretched her arms above her head and several joints cracked from the abuse they'd endured the day before. "Then what's up?"

"What were you dreaming about?"

"What?" She sat up and pulled her knees up to her chest against the night chill. "Was I talking in my sleep again?" she asked, her head cocking to the side. "'Cause I do that all the time…you just got to ignore it." She shrugged indifferently to this idea.

"You were saying you were sorry for something?" Piccolo prodded

"Huh, normally I talk about Vegetables. My adopted father said it used to make him hungry to listen to me talk in my sleep." Piccolo realized there was no way he could make her remember and it wasn't up to him to tell her. "Is that why you woke me? You were worried I was having a nightmare. That's sweet." She flashed him a flirtatious smile as she rested her cheek into her hand. When he made no reply, she shrugged, pulled her windbreaker back up over her and shivered before falling immediately back asleep.

Piccolo sighed, now more than ever, it was important that this girl was trained properly and that she learned of her past. He removed his cape and laid it across her before sitting down nearby to watch her sleep.

* * *

Tessa awoke the next morning to find herself covered in Piccolo's cape. It felt like it weighed a ton and she was exhausted just pushing it off. Its weight had kept her plenty warm during the night. She sat up and kicked it off her lower legs in a final effort before looking around and saw Piccolo sitting nearby, his head lowered in what appeared to be sleep. By her side was a pile of clothes and a pair of boots were set on top.

She got up and moved towards the pile and looked at them quickly. There was a dark green shirt and matching green pants that were skintight. A tunic of purple to go on top that came to her knees was next with a green fabric belt to tie it closer to her body. Finally a pair of heavy boots and wrist bands in black sat on top of the pile. She glanced back at Piccolo to make sure he was still sleeping before quickly changing at what she considered to be lightning speed.

The boots weighed a ton and took a little while to get used to. She paced back and forth getting used to the added weight and the way they wore on her feet. They definitely weren't Nikes or Reeboks. She figured even a pair of Chuck Taylors would have made for more comfortable training shoes. She wished she had a mirror to see what she looked like but decided that she'd live until she could find one. It wasn't like she was going to meet any good-looking guys out here in no man's land. She was all by her lonesome except for tall, green, and silent. _Whatever happened to Mister Talk, Dark and Handsome?_ She peered over her shoulder and saw a patch of green on her back and realized that it was actually a pattern of some sort. She twisted and turned trying to see what the pattern was that was on her but to no avail.

Piccolo roused himself and watched Tessa with amusement. She turned around and around like a dog chasing its tail as she tried to see what was on the back of her tunic. She knew nothing of the ancient language so even if she could see the symbol on the back of her gi, she wouldn't know that it was his own. Finally she saw that he was awake. In a way, she was just a typical girl and he was just waiting for the evident question. "Do you think this makes me look fat?"

He shook his head and smiled slightly. "No. Now are you ready to continue training?"

"Uh huh. Why are these so heavy though? I mean, shouldn't I be able to move easily in them?" She picked at the bottom hem of the tunic with curiosity. At last she turned and picked up her black windbreaker and put it on over top. On the right side above her chest _TESSA _was embroidered onto the nylon fabric.

"They're training clothes and meant to be heavy. The weight will make you stronger and eventually you won't realize just how heavy they are. Now let's get started. You're learning energy manipulation."

"Energy who-wha?"

"Energy Manipulation. It'll allow you to perform any of hundreds of attacks, even fly."

"Then let's get cracking. What do I need to do first?"

"You must focus your energy to a specific point in your body. Usually the palms of your hands for better control."

Tessa laughed. "You're kidding. That sounds like some kind of anger management practice. You know…" She held her hands out in front of her and closed her eyes. "Now find your happy place and imagine all of your anger leaving your body to form a little red ball. Now take that ball and release it…" she said aloud in a mocking tone of every bad counselor she'd seen on film…and occaisionally in real life. It seems like all of her property damage issues as of late had landed her in a lot of counselor's offices.

Piccolo grabbed her hands before she could release a very real ball of green energy that she'd created. "Tessa open your eyes."

She did and let out a small squeak. "What is that?!"

"A small piece of your ki."

"You mean goofing off worked. Ha! in your face." Piccolo frowned and Tessa quickly regained a serious composure. "Okay, so now what do I do with this?"

"You use it to attack your opponent."

"But I'd hurt you, wouldn't I?"

"That's too small to hurt me."

"Oh. So I've got a long way to go." She looked crestfallen as she turned away from him, the energy ball still in hand. She saw a decent sized boulder and aimed her hand towards it. The ball shot straight at the rock. She turned her back and didn't watch as the boulder blew up along with several feet of ground around it. Pieces of rock and dirt flew into the air and rained down around them.

Piccolo watched with a certain amount of awe. The energy ball she'd created had been so small. There's no way that it should have been able to do that much damage…unless she'd concentrated the ki within the ball.

"You shouldn't be disappointed, I'm thousands of times stronger than you are right now."

"Should I try again then?" She seemed frustrated as if she should've done better her first try. There it was. That is why she had seemed so familiar. It was the Saiyan determination to constantly do better and increase her strength. Piccolo only nodded. Again she closed her eyes but she didn't talk through this one. A ball of glowing energy quickly formed between her hands. She reopened her eyes and allowed herself a small smile as she held it up in one hand.

"I don't know all that much, but I think this is better." Piccolo nodded as he walked behind her. He smiled with amusement as he read the back of her jacket. _We bust ours, to kick yours._ She turned her head to watch as he moved her hands so that they held the energy at her side.

Without removing his hands, he spoke. "You'll want to the focus the energy between your hands in a position such that you can then thrust your hands forward to give your blast momentum." He pushed her arms forward as he spoke and she released the energy at a larger boulder farther away. This boulder also exploded into tiny little pieces leaving yet another large hole in the ground.

"I did that? Wow."

"For the second time." Piccolo pointed at the first large hole and Tessa followed his finger.

"But it's still not good enough for battle, is it?"

"No, but this is only your second day of training. It takes time."

"The question is, how much time do I have? Is there something bad coming on the horizon? Is that why you came to find me?"

"No. There's nothing looming on the horizon," Piccolo said calming her fears. "But it doesn't hurt to be prepared."

"Righto." She narrowed her eyes as she looked towards the sky. "Now let's get me my wings."

"That's more difficult, Tessa. I don't think you're ready yet."

"I didn't ask for your opinion. I'm gonna do it today." She looked more determined than ever. In two days she'd doubled her speed and learned the basics of ki manipultion. Yet she still wasn't satisfied. Piccolo didn't know if he wanted to be awed and amazed or strike the girl for being so pigheaded.

"It takes a lot of energy. Perhaps we should just spar for today. You can practice the ki blasts in a fight situation."

"Just tell me how to fly already." She glared up at him. Despite the great height difference between them, she still looked menacing from her far shorter stance. She was definitely a Saiyan child.

"Instead of focusing your energy to one singular point, you need to focus it throughout your body and force it upwards.

She closed her eyes and slowly a green tinged golden aura formed around her. Piccolo could sense her power growing as he watched, and slowly her feet lifted off the ground. She rose quite a good distance up into the air before the aura vanished in the blink of an eye and she dropped back down at a sickening speed. Piccolo caught her but she was out cold from using all of her energy.

As he gently laid her back down on the ground, he couldn't help but wonder if he wasn't babying her. He never would have trained Gohan this way. Was he doing it because she was a girl? He shook his head and tried to convince himself that starting tomorrow that he'd train her just like anyone else. She was a Saiyan and could handle it. Pain would do her some good and teach her to not repeat the same old mistakes. And there certainly was no one to give him hell for failing to baby her.

He draped his cape over her as she lay shivering on the ground and swore that tomorrow he was going to stop that nonsense. She was fifteen, not a child that needed tending. As she tossed and turned, the cape slipped and he pulled it back over her shoulder. _Tomorrow, _he thought, _Tomorrow, I'll stop doing all of that. Who am I kidding? This isn't old age or sentimentality…it's her. I don't know how, but she's bringing it out of me._

He watched as she tossed and turned some more continuing to mutter in her sleep like the night before. It seemed as if she was having the same nightmare as before and he did not feel the need to invade any more right now. Perhaps another time. It seemed strange to him that she seemed to have no knowledge whatsoever of her past, of who she really was. Princess Tanga was a nightmare she couldn't even remember upon waking. All she knew was Tesselation, and even that seemed to be a nightmare from what he could tell. What could have formed so effective a mental block? In the dream he'd witnessed, she'd been five years old. Plenty old enough to remember those events.

* * *

_Tanga frowned as she crossed her arms over her tiny chest. She had been ushered to her bedroom and instructed not to leave on pain of punishment. But she wanted to go with Veggie. It wasn't often that she was not allowed to follow him wherever he went. They had been ordered into the throne room together to see King Vegeta and the scary looking man. But Veggie had been sent away with one of the scary looking man's men. Veggie had looked angry and maybe even frightened. She knew she was angry because she had tried to follow but had been roughly grabbed up and tossed back. King Vegeta had then clasped one of his large hands down on her shoulder to hold her still while the two of them watched Veggie be led away._

_She sat on the edge of her bed kicking her feet listlessly as she pondered her situation. She could easily escape her bedroom. That wasn't hard at all. But she wasn't entirely sure where Veggie was. But, she only needed to tackle one feat at a time. She jumped down from her bed and quickly crossed to the small dresser. She pressed her shoulder against it, sliding it to the side to reveal a ventilation shaft, the cover already removed and leaning against the wall. She dove inside and quickly made her way through the labrynth towards King Vegeta's throne room. That's where she'd last seen Veggie._

_She was almost there when she recognized the man who'd taken Veggie. He was tall and pale green with dark green hair pulled back in a single braid. While he was outwardly handsome, Tanga still didn't like him. He'd taken Veggie away. And beside him was the large, fat pink man who'd grabbed her back. They spoke in hushed tones and then began to walk away. Tanga sprang to all fours and deftly followed them with easy running lopes. Each time she reached a vent, she would peer down to watch which direction they took before taking off again, her tail nearly standing erect for balance._

_They eventually approached a large cargo bay that was stroring the ugly man's massive ship. It was being restocked for supplies at King Vegeta's expense. The two men went aboard and Tanga realized that Veggie must already be on board. She ran to the ventilation shaft that was directly over the top of the ship and pounded the cover with her tiny fists, knocking it loose and it swung back with a small clang. She poked her head down through the opening and saw that no one had either heard or paid the sound any attention._

_She braced herself in the hole with three of her limbs and tail as she reached down with one of her short arms but the roof of the ship was still very far away it seemed. She set her expression and made the decision to just jump. She'd seen Veggie jump from higher heights. She could do this._

_She more or less fell the several feet and upon hitting the top of the ship, she began to skid and slide down the gentle slope towards the edge. She managed to get her grip eventually and skittered back up to the top of the ship and out of sight from any of the workers. She found an open hatch near the top that had a ladder and she quickly scaled down it to find herself in a back maintenance hall. Again, she ran on all fours through the hall trying to sense out where Veggie was. Usually she had an uncanny ability to find him, but her senses were assaulted by all kinds of new scents and his seemed to be lost in the mix._

_She turned a corner and froze. She could smell the ugly looking man so strongly that she feared he must be right in front of her. But there was a small vent and upon peering through, she could see he was actually on the other side of the wall from her. "I want you to go make sure the royal brat is still in the storage hold and hasn't escaped before we leave. Do you understand, Dodoria?"_

_The fat pink man was there too and she could see him nodding. He then bowed and turned to leave and Tanga chased after him as best she could using the maintenance hall. He eventually entered a room on the opposite side of the hall from her and for the briefest of moments Tanga caught Veggie's scent. _He's here!' _she thought as she quickly looked around to see if there was any way for to go up and over the hall way. She spotted a vent in the ceiling and grinned as she quickly bounced off the walls attaining the height she needed before wrapping her tail deftly around a pipe to hold herself up near the ceiling as she pried the vent loose. She crawled inside and squeaked at the sight of a rat before silencing herself again. She then swiftly moved through the vent but didn't see that the shaft dropped off going straight down and fell and tumbled coming out through another vent. _

_She coughed at the dust and when she sat up she grinned seeing Veggie sitting on a crate in front of her. The boy just turned and gazed at her in surprise but it faded into a disappointed scowl. "What are you doing here, Girl?"_

* * *

When Tessa awoke it was already dark and once again the great white cape was covering her. It didn't feel nearly as heavy as before and she held it up to her neck as she sat up looking around. Piccolo had built a decent sized fire nearby and was sleeping himself on the other side. She tried to go back to sleep but something was nagging her and all she accomplished was twisting and turning.

She again sat up and examined her surroundings. She continued to look around and saw that they were actually beneath one of the larger rock formations.

A small grin grew on her face as she continued to stare up at the monstrous rock. Without thinking twice she threw off the cape and took to climbing the cliff side. Even though she'd only been training two days, she couldn't help but feel that she was climbing rather fast. An hour and a half later she'd reached the top and was peering back down from the edge. Piccolo was still in the same position she'd left him.

She took a deep breath as she stepped back from the edge and then took a running leap over it. She fell for a few seconds before closing her eyes and clenching her fists in concentration. With a small jerk she stopped falling and hovered in the air still fifty feet above the ground. She grinned as she held her hands up in front of her. The green gold aura had returned. She flipped through the air once and kicked off the cliff side and soared through the air. She felt on top of the world as she zipped between the cliffs.

Unlike before she didn't feel as if she was getting weaker and if anything it was quite the opposite. After a while she found herself near a lake where the sun was rising and decided to land. It was a rough landing to say the least, but she felt no worse for wear and only felt bad about the long rut her body had carved through the grassy bank. She pulled herself up and moved to sit beside the lake and simply enjoy the sun rise.

"What are you doing here?" Tessa didn't bother to look back, she knew it was Piccolo.

"I couldn't sleep so I thought I'd practice flying."

"All this way?"

"Uh huh. It was kinda fun." She giggled a little as she wrapped her arms tightly around her knees, drawing them up to her chin.

"You should have been resting. You're weak from yesterday."

"Nah…I feel better than ever to be honest." She leaned back on her hands and looked at Piccolo upside down. At times he reminded her of an overly protective parent. Not that she knew what that was like from first hand experience, but she'd heard stories from some of her classmates. He stood there with his arms crossed over his chest and looking very cross with her. Yes, over protective parent was an apt description. "Were you worried about little ol' me? That's really sweet of you, but I can take care of myself you know."

"I'm not so sure of that yet."

"Humph. You wouldn't say that if I was a guy." She sat back up and crossed her arms over her chest defiantly. "I'm just a girl…God only knows what could happen to me when I'm out all by my lonesome." Her sarcastic tone made no headway with Piccolo as he continued to glare down at the back of her head. He had half a mind to blast her into the water for a good wake up call. "I might be robbed, or beaten, or oh no! maybe even killed. But I doubt it. You've brought me all the way out here to the middle of nowhere and I don't even know what country I'm in anymore." The other half of Piccolo's mind seconded the idea as he shot her with a ki blast that sent her into the center of the lake. She resurfaced cursing and flapping her arms. Already an aura was forming around her from her anger.

"You better run, cause if I catch you…"

"You'll what? Kill me with one of your pathetic ki blasts? I doubt it." She narrowed her eyes at him as she slowly rose out of the water. Already her aura was brightening and for a moment he wondered if he'd pushed her to the edge of becoming a Super Saiyan already. Her energy was certainly spiking at a rapid rate.

"Like I said, start running." Her fists were clenched and she opened them one at a time revealing a decent sized ball of energy in each one. She brought them together as one at her side and released them with a great "Ha!"

Piccolo underestimated her sudden strength and stood silently as the ki hit him square in the chest. Instead of standing his ground like he thought he would, he was pushed back a few feet. He stared down at the ground at the ruts he'd made and when he looked up Tessa was already in his face. She kicked him in the face with her shin and used his chest to kick off of as she flipped once in the air and landed neatly on the ground. She immediately kicked off the ground and came at him again fists flying.

"Don't you ever…" She landed a fist square on his jaw. "Insult me like that again." Piccolo raised his hands to block further attacks but found himself to be slowly backing away. She definitely had a Saiyan's pride. Finally Piccolo shot himself up into the air but Tessa followed him.

"Well it seems that the only way to get you to push yourself is to insult you." He quickly powered himself up as she continued to lunge herself towards him. Yesterday had proven nothing, for she was at least twice as strong now. If she continued to improve at this rate she'd be a force to be reckoned with by the end of just one month.

"Screw you." She began yet another assault of punches and kicks. She blocked one of his own punches with her arm and with surprising strength she wrenched it to the side dislocating his shoulder. Piccolo caught her next punch bringing her to a halt as she breathed heavily from the adrenaline that coursed through her veins. She was nearly seeing red.

"If that would've been permanent…"

"What?" she sneered.

"You wouldn't live through this." He threw her into one of the rock formations and she found herself eating rock face first. On impact she lost her grip on her energy and fell back down to Earth. She groaned as she pushed herself back up to her knees and immediately she was pushed back down. Piccolo stood with his foot planted squarely on her back keeping her down as he gripped his arm and rammed it back into place in his shoulder.

He rolled the shoulder a few times until it felt normal again. "Now let's get a few things straight. You're going to do what I tell you when I tell you. Understand?" he growled. "No more of this insubordination."

"Only if you'll do something for me," she said spitting out gravel and dirt.

Piccolo considered for a moment. "Maybe. What?"

"That you won't get in my way when I want to push myself and if I want to quit that you won't ever let me."

"Fine." He removed his foot and allowed her to stand back up. She brushed herself off paying particular attention to her knees.

Without warning she stood up and gave him an uppercut to the jaw. "That's for wanting me to quit yesterday. It should make us even now." Piccolo rubbed his jaw but said nothing. "So what now, teach?" she asked crossing her arms over her chest, her expression set despite the jovial tone of her voice.

"I think some more sparring would be good." There was an evil glint in his eye as he sent her flying again with a single blow. Tessa caught herself in the air and forced herself to dive bomb back down at Piccolo. He'd definitely stopped taking it easy on her.

* * *

It was well beyond dark when Tessa literally passed out from exhaustion again. She tossed and turned fitfully as nightmares consumed her. Piccolo watched with concern as she cried out in her sleep. They were screams of pain and at once she sat up in her sleep and screamed.

"Stop it! It hurts…just stop!" Her eyes were wide with fear and she clawed at the air. Piccolo rushed towards her as her screams became more panicky and high pitched. "Please help! Anyone!" She grabbed at his arms but still acted as if she couldn't see him standing there over her. "Veggie, make him stop!" She let out one last blubbering sob as she threw her hands around Piccolo's neck in a tight embrace.

She was sleep walking in some form. She suddenly dropped her hold on his neck and fell back down to the ground continuing to sob. Piccolo paused before placing his hand on her head again. He felt guilty for entering her mind again without asking but he didn't see any choice. He needed to find out what was causing these nightmares.

_Vegeta gave Frieza a curt bow before giving him a status report on the attack from the night before. "All went as planned Lord Frieza. We destroyed everyone on the planet and have taken it for your own." _

_The view was broken by bars as Tanga was hiding inside a ventilation shaft watching all that happened. Nappa and Raditz stood behind Vegeta and nodded agreeably. Frieza scoffed at them and struck Vegeta with the back of his hand._

_"Stupid apes. It took you much too long to defeat a planet of pacifists!"_

_"My apologies, Lord…" Vegeta bowed and as he did he saw Tanga in her hiding spot. He glared at her before standing back up. "We won't fail you ever again."_

_"You best not or your sister will be the one to suffer the consequences." Vegeta glared at Frieza but said nothing._

_Tanga let out a small squeak from her hiding place and sat back banging off the opposite side of the ventilation shaft. Frieza narrowed his eyes and walked towards Tanga's hiding place. He ripped the venting away and yanked Tanga out by her collar. "What did you hear?"_

_"Everything! I heard everything you monster!" Frieza narrowed his eyes at her and changed his grip to her tail. She shrieked in pain as he dropped her collar and all of her weight hung by her tail. "That hurts!"_

_"You're nothing more than a stupid monkey!"_

_Vegeta watched in horror as Frieza tortured his sister. "Stop that. You'll regret it."_

_"What are you going to do, Boy?"_

_"I know your fear. You fear that the Super Saiyan is real. Why do you want to kill her? She'll never amount to a fighter. Even father didn't waste his time having her trained."_

_"You're right. She's not worth anything except as a distraction to you." _

_Tanga kicked and punched at the air hoping to connect with Frieza. "Let me go, you monster!" She finally landed a kick on his arm and in anger he grabbed her by the collar again._

_"You brat!" She stuck out her tongue and tried to kick again. "That tail is the source of your strength even as little as you are." He narrowed his eyes and slowly began to pull on her tail._

_"Stop it! It hurts…just stop! Please help! Anyone!" Nappa and Raditz turned away from her pleas as she continued to scream and cry. "Veggie, make him stop!" Finally, Frieza pulled her tail clean off and dropped her. She scrambled to her feet and rushed to Vegeta throwing her arms around his neck. He picked her up easily as she cried into his shoulder._

_"She's right. You are a monster. She's just a little girl."_

_"And that's all she'll amount to. Say goodbye to her, Veggie," Frieza sneered, "Because you're never going to see her again." Frieza signaled for Zarbon to take her from Vegeta and he swallowed his words as he watched her being led away._

_She was still crying but no longer struggling as she sobbed waving at her brother from over Zarbon's shoulder. _

_"Stop crying, girl. You're a Saiyan, have some pride," Vegeta said sternly and she nodded her head softly._

_"Okay." She choked back her final sob and kicked Zarbon as hard as she could. He dropped her and she quickly ran back to Vegeta. She hugged him one last time and whispered into his ear, "I love you. You'll beat him someday. I know you will 'cause you're my big brother." Zarbon grabbed her by her red hair and drug her out of the room for the last time._

_He led her down the hall and eventually adjusted his hold on her to toss her over his shoulder again. Once out of sight of the others, she began to struggle violently once more, sinking her sharp canines into Zarbon's shoulder. He howled as he tossed her into a wall and she slid down pressing a hand to the back of her head where she'd been struck. She blinked dumbly at her hand as she pulled it back in front of her face to see the red, viscous fluid stuck to it. Zarbon growled as he transformed into a far more hideous looking creature and when Tanga noticed she screamed. _

_Zarbon grabbed her up by the throat and tossed her into a space pod. She pounded on the door for a few moments but realized that no one was going to come and rescue her. Without warning she was thrown backwards as the pod was launched into space. She stared out the window at Frieza's quickly disappearing ship. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw her destination-a black hole that was quickly sucking her in._

_"Veggie save me please!"_


	3. Chapter 3: World Martial Arts Tournament

**Disclaimer: I love creating and developing OCs. But I guess I should also own up to the fact that Piccolo and the idea of the World Martial Arts tournament are not mine.**

**Chapter 3: The World Martial Arts Tournament**

Nine months passed and Tessa had grown extremely strong under Piccolo's tutelage. All the while, the nightmares still came each and every night haunting her sleep and often stopping her from getting any restful sleep at all. Still Piccolo hadn't revealed her past to her but instead had filled her head with hopes of furthering her training by competing in the World Martial Arts Tournament. He hoped that by exposing her to other fighters that she'd be able to better learn how to handle herself in a real fight, even if the tournament did have rules.

"You know I'll win."

"Don't be so confident."

"I bet if I really, really wanted to, I could beat you," she teased, her hands resting easily on her hips.

"Not in your present condition."

"Humph. Yee of little faith. You're such a downer. You're an awesome trainer so I'm sure I'll be fine." Tessa stood outside the arena for the tournament and did a pose flexing her arm. The muscles were toned and defined and several guys passing by stopped to stare. She flashed them a winning smile before looking back up at Piccolo. "Come on, if I don't catch them gawking at my good looks, I'll catch them with my uppercut," she said demonstrating on him and paused just as her knuckles tapped his chin—it was a bit of a stretch without jumping. "Besides, I've got so many tricks up my sleeve…"

"And if you were wise, you'd keep those for the final rounds," Piccolo warned.

Tessa nodded her head in understanding. "I am getting nervous though. I mean, I'm sure I'm strong enough to beat these guys but I've never fought anyone except you. You just gotta promise not to disown me or anything if I end up not doing so hot. You're my cheerleader now."

"If you don't hurry, you won't even get in for the preliminaries."

Tessa grinned as she waved and ran into the arena. "Don't forget your promise!" With that she disappeared inside. Piccolo frowned. Perhaps he'd been wrong to tell her that if she won he'd tell her how to get to King Kai for more training. But he didn't know of many other trainers still living on Earth who could provide her with the challenge she needed to keep growing.

Tessa went inside and felt like she'd walked into a whole other world. She was surrounded by fighters who were all much bigger than her. The only ones she was even somewhat bigger than were the kids running around entering the junior division competition. She herself was just barely too old for the junior division which cut off at age fifteen. She had turned sixteen after only a few weeks of training with Piccolo and so there had been no sweet sixteen party for her—just another day of training and some fresh bruises to serve as presents. She pushed her way through the crowd and found the chart listing.

She looked down at her chest at her registration number-lucky thirteen-and then back at the chart that seemed nearly endless. But that made sense as she had to be amongst hundreds of fighters and the semi finals would only put the top eight fighters into the center ring to be watched by thousands in the stands. In the mean time, she'd have to fight her way through the masses and prove herself. She was fighting on the first platform for the preliminaries. She made her way back and entertained herself by watching the other matches. She had to push and wriggle her way towards the front just to get a view, but in that way, her small size had been a boon. Nobody seemed to upset if she stood in front of them, because not even her hair was able to block the view of 99% of the other fighters.

"Fighters thirteen and fourteen please enter the ring." She grinned as she dove forward, easily vaulted up onto the fighting stage, and watched for her opponent to appear as well.

A large barreling man slowly walked onto the platform and laughed at her. "This is too easy. Just an ittle wittle girl." A load roar of laughter came from those watching and Tessa shot them all glares.

"You know the bigger they are, the harder they fall."

"FIGHT!" Without warning Tessa popped down low and delivered a swift kick that knocked the man's feet out from under him. He fell backwards off the platform and was immediately disqualified. "Fighter thirteen wins by opponent leaving the ring!"

A hush fell as she jumped back down. Thus far that had been the fastest finish to a match yet and it had come from a fighter that everyone had assumed was an upjumped youth contender. They parted to allow her her old front row position to watch the matches that followed. It hadn't taken her very long to earn some respect and they still hadn't seen anything yet.

* * *

It was going to be a while until she got to fight again because there were just that many competitors. So she wandered off to watch other platforms' bouts in order to get an idea of what she might be up against if she made it to the semi-finals. But she was stopped at the first one she came to.

"Fighters one-forty-one and one-forty-two please enter the ring." The first fighter to step up was a handsome boy somewhat close to her own age. Very early twenties, tops. He had blonde hair that fell into his eyes and was tall and muscular with a tan.

Tessa felt her bottom jaw drop and pushed it shut again with her hand. It's not that her time spent in the wilds with Piccolo had reset her expectations in guys. It had more to do with the fact that in all of her time living with the Reynolds she had never, ever seen anyone who even came close to this guy. Not even on TV or in the movies. And she was glad that she'd caught herself and regained her composure, because before the round started, he glanced her way and winked before looking at his opponent. She had to do a double take to make sure he'd meant it for her as she wrenched her neck around to see if there were any other women in nearby. Considering that she was flanked by overly muscled, sweaty guys, she was left with the conclusion that he must have meant her. She leaned against the platform, her arms folded on the edge like many of the other front row observers and she watched with fascination as the match started.

The blonde fought with very little exerted effort and looked bored. The two fighters exchanged punches but it was obvious from the start that the blonde was going to win. He finished the match off quickly by grabbing his opponents arm and bodily throwing him out of the ring. "Fighter one-forty-one wins!"

The blonde jumped down out of the ring near her and Tessa got a better look at him as the crowd instinctively parted. Even after nearly a year of training, Tessa had only grown to be 4'6" herself, so the fact that the fighter was a little over a foot taller than her certainly didn't put him into any extraordinary height ranges, especially compared to some of the much taller men around them. He was dressed simply in a pair of jeans and a white muscle shirt, and was extremely well toned. Thus, she couldn't tell if he had any formal training or not. "So you're the chick on everyone's tongue," he said turning towards her and again the masses moved in order to allow him to pass right next to the stage until they were standing right next to one another.

"Oh…I wouldn't…really?" She could feel herself blushing under his gaze, which she broke by ducking her head and glancing back at her hands on the platform.

"Well, I don't see too many other spiky red haired girls that made it through the first round." He was right. What few girls had entered had almost all been eliminated.

She unconsciously reached to her ponytail and laughed nervously. "Gee, I coulda sworn I'd seen a half dozen walking around," she replied cooly as she looked back up at him.

"None as pretty as you though." At this distance she could see his blue eyes clearly and they twinkled for a moment before he popped his eyebrows. He was daring her to come back at him with another joke.

She opened her mouth to respond but heard her number being called. "Fighters thirteen and sixteen please enter the ring."

"I…uh…gotta go."

"Perhaps we'll face each other later on."

"Yeah…'til then." She turned and ran back to her fighting platform.

"Last call, fighter thirteen."

"I'm here!" She placed her hands on the platform and used them for leverage to easily jump onto the platform.

"Bout time, Girlie."

"Okay, didn't you see what happened to the last guy who insulted me? Seriously, what's the learning curve like amongst you boys? It's looking a little stagnant from here."

"FIGHT!"

"You want an insult babe…fine. You'll be an easier knock out than my grandmother."

Tessa narrowed her eyes at the lug and hurtled straight at him. She delivered a sharp upper cut to his jaw. For a moment, he didn't move, his eyes rolling back up into his head. He was so massive that it took a few beats before his muscles finally lost their strength and he collapsed into a heap on the platform. Tessa glanced up at the referee for their platform and cocked an eyebrow before making a rolling motion with her hand. He looked startled for a moment and then cleared his throat before tapping the microphone and then speaking. "One…two…three…Fighter thirteen wins by K.O.!"

"I'd like to see your gram try that." Tessa muttered as she turned her back.

When Tessa got down from the platform she saw Piccolo watching through the doorway. She still didn't understand why he hadn't entered the competition but to be honest she was kind of grateful. All of these guys she could beat if she set her mind to it. No big…but Piccolo…she'd been fighting against him for months and had only come close a few times.

"Now that was a good match." Tessa was brought out of her thoughts and tore her gaze from Piccolo to see the blond behind her.

"Hi again. We gotta stop meeting like this." She could feel herself turning as red as her hair.

"I don't mind at all. I don't believe I got your name before," he smiled warmly as he slid his gloved hands into his back pockets.

"Oh…it's…um…" she stammered still not quite sure how or why this ridiculously good looking guy was in this tournament let alone talking to her. She'd seen some of the girls hanging out just outside and the was pretty sure that compared to them, she was ranking somewhere around a four or a five at best.

"Um? That's unusual," he commented, his head cocking just slightly to the side.

"No! I mean it's Tessellation…Tessa…Tess."

"That's pretty. My name's Melon."

"That's _really_ unusual. That's like my friend who's watching me…" She looked back but Piccolo was gone. "Well, his name's Piccolo. You know like the instrument." She was babbling but for some reason the blonde seemed interested.

"Piccolo? Hmm…that sounds familiar to me." His brows furrowed over his sharp blue eyes for a moment before relaxing.

"Oh…I wouldn't know why. He's some kind of hermit who doesn't get out much. Total loner. Honestly, I'm surprised sometimes that he even puts up with me."

"Not like you though. I bet you're hitting the clubs every night," Melon teased watching the girls flush creep back up in her cheeks again.

"Not exactly," Tessa replied, her nose scrunching up a little. "I'm more of a train 'til you crash then wake up really early to watch the sunrise type of girl."

"You sound like a dedicated fighter."

"I'm trying. How long have you been training?"

"Since I was fifteen," he said before pausing as if trying to calculate in his head. "So six years. You?"

"Oh…well…nine months." She hung her head and glanced off to the side. _That sounds so stupid compared to him._

"Nine months! Wow, you're really good if you've only been training that long. After the preliminaries are over, I'd like to meet up with you. You know, so we can talk some more."

"What? Oh, um…sure. I guess my friend won't mind."

"Then it's a date." He flashed her a charming smile and left her leaving feeling dazed and confused.

"A date…A date!? What did I just agree to?" She didn't have time to think it over anymore before she was again being called up to the fighting platform.

"Fighters nine and thirteen please enter the ring!"

For the first time, Tessa found herself going up against a female competitor. The girl had long dark hair pulled back into a ponytail and a dark complexion. She looked Indian and very determined to win. "Good luck." Tessa held her hand out to shake her opponent's and the other girl took it.

"I won't need it." Her grip was hard and brisk and Tessa was shocked by her strength. Tessa rubbed her hand before awaiting the start of the fight.

"FIGHT!" The girl was quick too and was in Tessa's face before she knew it. The girl threw a high punch at Tessa's face and Tessa did a back flip to get out of the way. She regained her stance as the girl came again and she was able to easily block each punch. She gave the girl a hard shot to the stomach, which sent her stumbling back a few steps. Tessa used the space to deliver a hard flying kick to the side of the girl's face. The other girl stood a moment longer before collapsing and tripping off the stage. "Fighter thirteen wins!"

Tanga hurriedly jumped off the platform at the girl's side and knelt down next to her to make sure she was okay. She helped the girl back up to her feet so that she could lean back against the platform. "Are you gonna be okay? I didn't mean to hit you so hard."

"That's why it's a fight." She rubbed her jaw absentmindedly as she leaned back against a wall. "You're awesome. What's your name?"

"Tessellation…but you can just call me Tessa. And you?"

"Trish. It was awesome fighting you."

"Thanks." Tessa grinned.

"The fights will resume in one hour! If you fail to show up…you will be disqualified."

"Come on, I'll treat you to some chow." Tessa linked her arm in Trish's and led her away from the fighting platforms.

They went outside and found a stand selling burgers and sodas and Tessa insisted on paying for both of theirs. They found a table then that was off to the far end away from the rest of the fighters who were either griping about their unjust losses or proclaiming their greatness. "So what were you gonna do with a million Zeni anyway?"

"I was going to pay for my brother's surgery. My parents just don't have the cash so I thought maybe I could pay for it."

"Oh."

"What about you? I bet you've got great plans."

"Actually not. I'll tell you what. If I win, I'll give you the money. I don't need it, not where I'm gonna go."

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going to go train with King Kai."

"King Who? Cute joke, Tessa."

"I'm not joking. He's like the most awesome trainer in the universe. Well, one of them at least. My friend, he told me that once I train with this guy, that I'll eventually be able to train under Supreme Kai who's the ruler of the universe!"

"I think your friend is pulling your leg. Sounds like a bunch of hooey," Trish said taking a big bite out of her burger.

"Well, I believe him. He wouldn't joke with me like that. Besides, once you meet him…you'll believe just about anything."

"Yeah, why's that?"

"Tessa!" Tessa forced herself not to wince under that growl. Piccolo was standing directly behind her. She tilted her head back to look up at him and smiled.

"Hi Piccolo. This is Trish. Trish this is my friend Piccolo."

Trish stared up at Piccolo and nearly spat out her soda before forcefully swallowing. "You're green!" Tessa couldn't help but grin even more at her new friend's expression of awe. "Okay, you're totally right. You would have to believe just about anything after meeting him," Trish said thumbing in Piccolo's direction as she looked back at Tessa.

"I thought I told you…" Piccolo started to admonish her but got cut off.

"I'm sixteen, Piccolo. I'm going to be sociable. Like it or not. Oh, I've got a date, tonight after prelims…I don't know when I'll be back so…don't worry, okay?"

"No, it's not okay. If you make it through preliminaries, the quarter finals start tomorrow. You need to rest, not be out partying."

"Did I say party?" Tessa asked looking up at him as her eyebrow arched up towards her hairline. "No, I said date. Just a quiet dinner to discuss fighting strategies."

"He's another fighter?"

"Well, duh, are there any guys here who aren't fighters?" Tessa asked gesturing at the surrounding tables filled with guys wearing muscle shirts and gym shorts, a few gis sprinkled throughout like spices in a soup.

"Wait!" Trish interjected. Tessa stopped bickering with Piccolo to look back at Trish who'd been pretty much left out of the conversation. "Who you going out with tonight?" Tessa looked around quickly to try and find the blonde and spotted him sitting at a table surrounded by other fighters.

"Over there," she pointed, "The blonde guy with the muscle shirt." She smirked up at Piccolo, challenging him to find fault in him. Piccolo just narrowed his eyes.

Trish sucked in her breath at first before letting it out in a soft whoosh. "Oh him…no wonder you said yes! He's a total babe."

Piccolo cleared his throat but the signal was missed.

"I know, I thought my heart was gonna fall out of my chest when he asked me. Do you know who he is?" Tessa asked as she finally turned her attention away from Piccolo and back to her new friend.

"No. How'd you even get to talk to him?"

"I was wandering around checking out the other fights and saw his. When he finished he jumped down and started talking to me and said he'd heard about my first match where I knocked the guy out of the ring."

"UH HMMM!"

"Oh, what Piccy?" Tessa sighed as she rested her hand on her cheek and gave him the most innocent batting of her eyelashes that she could manage.

"Don't call me that. You should be concentrating on your upcoming fights. Not picnicking or planning dates." He was agitated that she wasn't paying attention to the competition and seemed more concerned with dating.

"I have been. I've already checked out the guy I'll be going up against next. He's right over there." Tessa thumbed behind her to a guy who had the number eight pinned to his back. "He's got brute strength but he's kind of low on the brains." As she spoke the guy shoveled an entire sub into his mouth in one bite. Dressing and toppings dribbled down his front. Trish looked completely grossed out watching him and pushed her burger away in disgust. "You gonna finish that?" Trish looked at Tessa like she was nuts for even asking but she ignored it as she finished it off licking her fingers.

"You can't judge your opponents on appearances. He may be better than you think," Piccolo warned.

"I'm sure I can handle him." Tessa turned slightly to narrow her eyes at Piccolo. He realized that he wasn't going to be able to change her mind. She'd just have to learn the hard way.

* * *

Tessa was irritated with Piccolo to say the least. It was almost like he didn't trust her judgment in the slightest. That fat guy wasn't even worth worrying about. She'd get through this match in a minute tops. The guy would probably have to be a knock out because it'd be difficult to toss him out. She was putting all of her attention on this match.

"Fighters eight and thirteen please enter the ring!" Tessa jumped up and glanced around for the fatso. Instead, she spotted Melon looking on as he waited for his next match.

Due to her distraction, she missed the appearance of her opponent on the platform and he cracked his knuckles menacingly while he waited for the start. "FIGHT!" Melon waved and winked as well and as Tessa waved back, she nearly lost her match because of it. Her opponent swung a hard right at her that sent her skidding back several feet. She caught her footing just before she reached the edge. It wouldn't have mattered if she'd gone off except she'd be revealing her powers in only the preliminary matches. It was too soon for the light show.

"Didn't your mother ever tell you not to hit a girl?" She shook her head to clear her thoughts. _Okay, so maybe that wasn't all of my attention._

"You're no girl. You're too damn ugly." She narrowed her eyes and jumped up and over him as he tried to kick at her. He was sluggish compared to her lightening reflexes. As she jumped she used his shoulder help push herself up and over and twisted in the air to face his back. She pushed off the ground and kicked him square in the back. He fell off balance and stumbled forward several steps right off the platform.

"Fighter thirteen wins by opponent leaving the ring!"

She jumped down off the platform near her hefty opponent. "You really shouldn't talk, buddy." He grunted as he pushed himself up but hung his head as he walked away.

Tessa fought the urge to wander off and watch Melon's match. She knew that Piccolo would never forgive her if she didn't stick around and see who her next opponent would be.

"Fighters twenty and thirty-two please enter the ring!" Both of the fighters looked pretty lean. Both were obviously good and had been training a long time. One was older, probably in his thirties while the other was closer to her age. She watched with interest as the fight began. The older was definitely more experienced but beginning to get past his fighting prime. He wasn't nearly as fast and was slightly behind in the strength department.

Watching them fight, Tessa began to wonder if her lack of experience would hinder her. She was almost like the last guy she'd just fought. Pure power and brute force. She wasn't that good at strategizing yet or anything. Piccolo had done a good job at training her and it was partly her fault if she came here and humiliated herself. She was impatient and didn't want to wait another four years. When Piccolo had made the deal with her that if she won the tournament she could train with King Kai she'd gotten excited. It was an opportunity she didn't want to pass up. Besides, these Kais were ancient and would know more than Piccolo about who she really was. Obviously there had to be something more to her than just a poor, abandoned orphan.

Thinking of Piccolo, lately, more than ever, she'd been getting the feeling that he was keeping something from her. He always asked her how she'd slept and if she remembered any of her dreams. It was a strange thing to ask. For the second time in the last few minutes she found her mind wandering. If it wasn't Melon interrupting her thoughts, it was Piccolo. _Damn men and that effect they have._

She began to watch the fight again focusing on each of their moves and how the defended and attacked. The older seemed to be more erratic trying to mess with the younger's head. However, the younger fighter was more direct in his approach using a consistent pattern of attack. Two punches, a knee to kick, then a left, right kick, and repeat. It was almost like a dance with him. So long as he kept the pattern, he stayed on balance.

Despite the fact that the older fighter recognized his opponent's pattern, he just wasn't quick enough to get back on the offensive. He was slowly being backed out of the ring…and he stepped out. "Fighter thirty-two wins by opponent leaving the ring!"

The younger guy held his hands up in the air like a boxing champ. "Who's the best?! Hoo ha! You're all looking at the champ, right here baby!" The way the winner was acting, he was extremely cocky. That meant he'd most likely underestimate her simply because she was smaller and female.

He finally jumped down and allowed the next match to go on. Tessa knew that this was the last match before hers but she could see that behind her Melon's match was still going on. It was almost like he was purposefully prolonging it. She looked back at her own fighting platform and eyed up the two fighters. They seemed like equals so it should take them at least a little while. She pushed through the crowd to watch Melon finish his match without another thought.

She managed to get up next to the platform and watched as he danced around his opponent. He was light on his feet and almost seemed like he was floating on air. She banished the thought though because she doubted that there would be any other fighters capable of flight like she was.

She caught his eye and a smile played across his lips. He dodged another fist and delivered two of his own. Both connected and his opponent backed off squinting though the swelling. Using the new space, Melon used a series of kicks to keep his opponent on a backward spiral. He kept his hands up towards his face trying to block attacks but Melon moved them lower to his gut. Eventually his opponent stepped backwards off the platform and the spectators simply parted and let him fall all the way to the floor. "Fighter one forty-one wins by opponent leaving the ring!"

Melon jumped down and caught Tessa by the shoulders. "What'd you think?" he asked grinning broadly.

"You're awesome!" she gushed feeling every bit like the school girl she used to be.

"Thank you."

"I…uh…I should get back. Don't want to miss my own fight." She smiled up at him and thought she'd wind up melting right there in his hands.

"Sure thing. We can leave right after you finish, if you like," he suggested as his hands slid down her arms to grab hers.

"That works for me." She said slipping her hands out of his and turning away from him and resisted the urge to jump up and click her heels or something else childish. She did get a big goofy grin on her face. Her first date was about to start as soon as she kicked some cocky guy's butt. As she reached the platform, the other fight finished and she immediately jumped up. Her opponent seemed just as anxious to start as he was up there as soon as she was.

"Ready to eat dirt, chicky?" her opponent asked as he ground his fist into his other hand.

"As if, numb nuts. Get a clue," she snorted, crossing her arms over her chest and popping her hip out. She was tempted to knock him out that instant just for being a jerk.

"FIGHT!" She let him come at her first and decided to pull a slight stunt. She used zanzoken leaving an after image of her behind. The dip wad struck at her image and looked stupefied when all he hit was air. It also threw him off balance and she swung a fist around, striking him from behind. He spun around and stared at her as he fell off the platform. "Fighter thirteen will advance to the quarter final matches tomorrow."

She jumped down from the platform and without missing a beat, Melon linked his arm in hers. "Ready to go?"

"As I'll ever be," she smirked as she glanced up at him.

He grinned broadly in return and moved his arm to around her waist as he guided her off. "That was a pretty good performance. You moved so fast that your opponent was attacking nothing but air. I don't think I've ever seen a man look so shocked before."

"It's no big deal," Tessa said trying to wave the comment off dismissively. There was at least one small part of her that realized that Melon was going into the semi-finals with her and she needed to downplay her advantages as long as she could.

"You've gotta be kidding! You beat every single one of your opponents in less than a minute."

"Well, thirty seconds to be exact. I'm sure you could've done the same. It seemed like you were always toying with your opponents. I'm just a straight shooter. Get it done and over with so I can move on to the next thing."

"Well, I hope you only do that in your fighting," he teased looking down at her and winking.

"What's that supposed to mean?" She looked up at him confused as they walked away from the competition site. She didn't know where he was leading her and she really didn't care either. If she was willing to follow a man who was clearly an alien out into the wilderness for a couple of months, she figured she could handle one night on the town with Melon.

"Nothing. Don't worry about it." He gave her another charming smile and immediately she forgot what had bothered her.

"So where are we going?" she asked.

"With the competition in town, there's also a carnival. I thought that would be fun. Something to take our minds off the fighting."

"I haven't been to one since I was little. Probably since I was six, when I first moved in with my adopted parents."

"Well, then you're in for a treat. Japanese carnivals are the best. You'll be so overwhelmed you'll just want to watch the people," he said urging her along at a faster pace as they began to catch up with the milling crowds that were also on their way to the carnival. Up ahead they could see the lights beginning to twinkle as darkness began to fall.

"Oh, I don't think so."

* * *

Melon was right about the carnival. It was amazing. Women walked around in brightly colored kimonos and their dark hair tied in knots above their head. Everyone wore traditional sandals and Melon insisted on outfitting Tessa properly in the festive wear.

He browsed a rack of brightly colored costume kimonos and finally settled on one in purple, covered in green ivy so that it matched her fighting uniform. A sales girl helped Tessa into it and the teen girl spun around before a mirror to examine her appearance and smiled. It'd been a long time since she'd played dress up as well. She almost didn't recognize herself. Melon watched her, a grin playing on his lips. "Well, what do you think?" she asked.

"You look beautiful," he said earnestly. Tessa could feel the heat rising in her cheeks and it only got worse as he tucked a stray strand of hair back behind her ear. She couldn't remember a single time in her life when she'd been told she was beautiful. At least not since her mother had died. Most of the time she was getting teased about her looks, not complimented. "Absolutely perfect. Shall we?" He offered her his arm and led her back towards the festivities. "So where are you from?" he asked as they walked through the center of the carnival's festivities stopping every now and then to point things out to her.

"America," she answered watching as small children tried to fish out goldfish from a small pond. "You?"

"South of here."

"Oh, you don't look Japanese," she said knotting her brows.

He chuckled and nodded. "You're right. I grew up in Europe. I only moved south of here when I turned twenty-one."

"So less than a year, then, huh?" she noted and he paused, his brows furrowing for a moment and he nodded. Tessa smiled and watched a group of dancers for a while before turning her attention back to him. "What kind of name is Melon, anyway? Family name? Nickname?"

"More like my family decided to hate me from the start. My full name is Melon Ball, so you get the picture," he glanced down at her and his expression was quite comical, clearly reading, 'can you believe that?'

"Yeah, that's pretty harsh," she said sympathetically.

"What about you?"

"I was adopted and my mom was a math teacher, so she wanted to name me for the most beautiful thing she knew, thus, Tessellation."

"See, now that's actually a good reason behind a bad name. My parents just figured it'd be funny," he cracked a smile though as he wrapped an arm around her waist again.

"Are they here for the tournament, you know, to support you?" Tessa asked. It seemed strangely comfortable for him to be so close with her.

"No, they died a long time ago," Melon said glancing away before turning back to force a smile. "You?"

"My mom died in a car accident when I was little," Tessa said and left it at that. She didn't particularly feel like discussing her adopted father.

"Well, on that dour note," he said, leading her over where she'd seen the children playing earlier. She was handed a small paddle made of tissue paper and had her own chance to try to catch a gold fish from the pond. She laughed when she thought she'd finally gotten one, but the paper broke and the fish dropped back into the water splashing Melon. He wiped off his face with the back of his hand before standing back up. "Well, that was fun," he chuckled catching her eye.

"I don't remember ever having this much fun," she admitted. It was sad actually that she'd been more or less deprived of a normal childhood since her adoptive mother's death.

"We've only gotten started."

He led her up to a giant Ferris Wheel and Tessa shook her head violently. No, I've always hated this ride. I know it's stupid, I'm not even afraid of heights. It's just that drop, I keep thinking the seat's gonna fall right off."

"I won't let anything happen. Promise." He took both of her hands in his own and walked backwards leading her towards the ride.

"I really don't want to."

"It'll be fun." She tried to pull back but felt for a moment like she couldn't and then she was in line. _Is he really that much stronger than me? I pulled as hard as I could!_ A few minutes later, Tessa found herself being seated on the Ferris Wheel next to Melon. He placed his arm across her shoulders and gave them a gentle squeeze. "It'll be fine, Tess. I promise."

"Yeah, I know. I told you it was a silly feeaarrr!" The ride began moving as the seat swung backwards. She gripped the hem of her kimono at the jerk and continued gripping the fabric even after the seat had stopped swinging. Melon smiled at her kindly as he peeled her fingers away from the fabric. He held her hands in his and gently rubbed the backs of them with his thumbs.

She could almost feel all the stress and tension leaving. It was so relaxing that she didn't even notice that she was on the ride anymore. All she could notice were his blue eyes that were staring back into her own. "I'm sorry."

"For?" he asked.

"I was kinda staring off into space there," she said blinking as she blushed and glanced away before finally looking back up at him. He didn't say anything, just smiled as he gave her hands a squeeze. Again she felt like all of her worries were just slipping away.

Eventually the ride came to an end and she stepped down feeling light headed. She didn't know if the feeling was from her fear, or some kind of effect that Melon had on her.

Overhead there was a large boom signaling the start of the fireworks and he led her to the end of the carnival where they were setting the fireworks off in a field. Tessa sat down in the grass and ran her fingers over the blades in silence as she watched the explosions overhead. She didn't even realize that her hand had found its way back into his again while she sat there. She yawned lazily and rested her head on his shoulder, gripping his arm for balance before falling almost instantly asleep.

"Tess." She opened her eyes to see Melon shaking her shoulder. The fireworks were over and people were milling away in the darkness that had completely settled.

"I can't believe I slept through that," she said sitting up straight in surprise. She looked around astonished to see that they were quickly going to be the last couple left in the field.

"You must be exhausted. I'll walk you back." He stood up and offered her his hand, pulling her gently to her feet. They walked side by side back to the arena in peaceful silence. When they got there, Melon paused and Tessa did the same next to him.

"Something wrong?"

"I don't know where you're staying," he admitted.

"Oh, well, don't worry about it. I'll make it the rest of the way on my own." She did her very best to not look nearly as tired as she felt and to wave dismissively as if she were staying in one of the hotels right on the same block as the arena.

Melon considered it for a moment, studying her face closely under the lamp lights but then nodded. "Goodnight, Beautiful," he said, leaning down to kiss the back of her hand before turning back the way they'd come.

Tessa watched him walking away and marveled at all they had seen and done that evening. She was still trying to wrap her head around the fact that he'd parted with such chivalry. It was something she was not at all accustomed to. She waited until he was completely out of sight before she kicked her power up a notch and took to the sky. She and Piccolo were camping slightly outside of the city. Apparently, he didn't want her getting soft by sleeping in a real bed since she hadn't had one in nearly a year. She'd barely reached camp before she started feeling light headed. She landed and rolled to a stop near the fire that Piccolo had built and found that she could barely lift her head and almost immediately Piccolo was hovering over her. "Where have you been? What happened to you?"

"I don't know. I'm just really tired." She rolled over and stared up at her green friend as she allowed her arms to flop out to the side.

"I told you that you shouldn't have gone out."

She suddenly found a burst of energy thanks to her temper and sat straight up. "What's wrong with you? Are you jealous of the fact that I've met some new people and I'm not spending every waking second with you? I don't get it, Piccolo, so why don't you tell me straight up." But as quick as the newfound energy had come, it seemed to disappear just as fast as her eyelids fluttered and she collapsed back down with Piccolo catching her by the shoulders.

"That's ridiculous. I'm concerned because you shouldn't be like this. Something's wrong and I have a bad feeling about your new friend."

"You are jealous! You just don't like Melon," she muttered despite the fact that she was barely maintaining consciousness.

"He's your opponent. You should treat him that way. You can't honestly believe that he's trying to be your friend. He's using you."

"That's not true. We had a good time just hanging out. Why do you have to constantly worry over me? You're not my father by a long shot so stop acting like it." Almost instantly she regretted her choice of words. Had he not been a better father figure than her adoptive father? She bit her lower lip to keep herself from saying anything else she might regret.

"I'm trying to look out for your best interest. I can't do that if you are unwilling to listen to me." He set her down on the ground and stood up. "Now, I suggest you sleep. It's going to be more difficult tomorrow." She grumbled as she settled down and was out almost as soon as her cheek had touched the long blades of grass.


	4. Chapter 4: The Quarter-Finals

**Disclaimer: If I owned DBZ, we'd be reading graphic novels, not manga. Just sayin'.**

**Chapter 4: The Quarter-Finals**

Tessa awoke the next morning to find she was still wearing the kimono. Piccolo wasn't to be seen anywhere and she changed quickly into her gi. She felt a lot better now then she had last night and powered up enough to fly back to the arena. She didn't know what time it was, and she had a feeling that she was late. _Why didn't Piccolo wake me? Is he still upset about last night and Melon?_

She touched down in a back alley a short distance away from the arena and sprinted the rest of the way. She found the entrance to be crowded by spectators who were still busy trying to get seats for the first public match. She frowned at the mass confusion and sprinted around the corner following the wall around the arena. She found the back entrance and pushed through the door. A monk stood nearby and smiled when he saw her. "Come, come. Or you'll be late to choose the order." The monk turned and led her down a hall to an open courtyard where the other seven fighters were all waiting. Melon smiled at her from the end of the line. A dark haired man appeared to be the announcer for the matches and stood near a box held by another monk. "This is the last fighter," the monk told the announcer who looked at Tanga and grinned. There had to be Vaseline on his teeth. He couldn't stop grinning and it looked uncomfortable.

"Alright then. We're ready to get started. It's simple, really. Each of you will choose a ball from this box. On it will be a number which will place you into the standings. Today, will be the quarterfinals, tomorrow the semi-finals and then on the last day: the final match. Good luck to you all."

"I'll go first." A tall man in his late twenties stepped forward. The announcer motioned for him to go ahead and the man reached into the box pulling out the number seven.

"Last tournament's champion, Micalo, will be in the seventh standing." Tessa gave him a good looking over and decided that four years was plenty of time for the guy to have gone soft. He didn't look like much of a champion to her. But what was it that Piccolo had told her…_don't judge by appearances_. That was it.

Melon moved forward to pick next and chose the number two. He gave her a flattering smile as he stepped back.

Yet another new face went forward to choose. He picked the number four. "Titanus will be in the fourth standing."

Tessa stood back and waited to go until last. She finally chose her ball, the only one left-number five.

"The standings are as follows: In the first round, Krack Jaw versus Melon, next will be Zeus versus Titanus, the third round will be between Tessellation and Samson, the final round will be held between Micalo and Jack Manson. Would Krack Jaw and Melon please go directly to the arena for the first match?"

Tessa watched her new friend walk away and followed the other fighters to a waiting area. She heard the roar of the crowd as the announcer began by announcing the seatings and the basic fighting rules: win by kill, knock out, or the opponent stepping outside of the platform. While a kill would be a win, it would also be immediate disqualification from the tournament. Tessa had to wonder how often people actually ended up dying in the tournament.

* * *

Tessa very quickly grew bored sitting still. She left the room where the other fighters were lifting weights or sitting in meditation. She'd never understood meditation. Piccolo had tried with her so many times and she would just get fidgety. Her muscles would twitch begging to be used. It didn't matter what she did, picture serene settings, hot guys, the perfect energy blast, she couldn't concentrate on any one thing for more than five minutes. She swore she had ADD but Piccolo didn't seem to understand what that was.

She found herself leaning against the archway that opened onto the fighting platform. The stands were brimming over with people yelling and shouting for their favored fighter. She glanced around and saw Trish waving madly next to Piccolo. However, she couldn't read Piccolo's expression to tell if he was still mad at her or not. She waved back to Trish who cheered loudly.

She turned her attention then to Melon and his match. He looked stronger if that was possible and more energetic. He danced from one foot to another in anticipation for the start of the match.

"If everyone's ready, let's get the first match underway!" Immediately, Melon disappeared from view but his opponent was being batted around by an invisible force. Tessa blinked a few times and realized that Melon was moving fast, pretty fast like she did on bad days. He was good, but it was a performance that she still felt she could beat.

Melon eventually started to slow down like he was running out of energy from the speed and Krack Jaw was finally able to see Melon and began to attack back. He was strong, but his size made him slow. Melon was still slightly quicker and was able to dodge most of the punches. Krack Jaw looked frustrated at the futility of his attacks and began to pick it up a notch. His punches became harder and longer and their effect was pushing Melon back. A few more feet and Melon would step off the platform. Krack Jaw kept pushing and Melon was unable to get out of his warpath.

Melon was now literally balancing on the edge. Krack Jaw looked confident as he punched Melon one more time and he slid off the edge. But instead of falling the one and a half feet to the grass, he hung in mid air. He knew how to fly just like she did. Tessa frowned, she hadn't sensed that he was that strong. Besides, he didn't seem to have that many special techniques. But then again, hadn't he been moving so fast that everyone watching excluding herself and Piccolo had been unable to see him? Maybe he was doing the same thing she was—keeping a lid on most of her tricks until she really needed them.

Everyone watching gasped in shock and amazement. Most applauded enjoying the trick while others hissed about cheating. Melon smiled broadly and glanced her way. She was almost sure his expression was saying, "thanks." She looked back to the crowd to see Trish gaping and Piccolo frowning. He didn't like the way this looked and Tessa had to think that if Piccolo didn't like something, then it looked bad.

Melon rose a few more inches and moved forward towards Krack Jaw who was quickly wheeling back out of his way. "What are you, man?"

"The winner of this match." Melon dropped back down to the platform and gave his opponent a solid kick to the chest that lifted him into the air and off the platform. Most applauded but some were stunned to silence as they puzzled over Melon's abilities. Tessa wished she had time to question Piccolo about past tournaments but she wasn't sure how much time she would have with only one more match before her own.

Melon walked through the arch and took her by the elbow right around the bend and out of sight from the spectators. "What'd you think?"

"I didn't know you could do that."

"There's a lot of things that I can do. You just got to wait and see." He kissed her on the forehead before winking and walking away.

"What was that for?"

"For luck!" She felt lightheaded and decided it was the fact that she must be blushing extremely hard. She rubbed her head and tried to get back into fighting mode. She couldn't get distracted by something like that. She walked away deciding she didn't care much to see the next fight between Zeus and Titanus. Even though the match would be a good opportunity to watch for patterns and such, she was suddenly in no mood. And if Melon was right in what he said, neither of the fighters going into their match now would get past him.

* * *

Piccolo stared at the wall, sensing both Tessa and Melon's energy. He didn't like the way that Melon had improved over night and he liked even less the way he'd taken to Tessa. Trish looked at him strangely as he continued to stare at the wall. "Something amazing about that wall?"

"Nothing in particular," he said quietly. He turned his attention away when he sensed Melon had grown even stronger as Tessa grew weaker.

* * *

As Tessa wandered she ran into another monk. "Are you lost, child?" he asked, his hands clasped before him as he bowed his head slightly.

"Kind of. I'm looking for some kind of records. You know, to find out about the past tournaments." It was still nagging at her about the rules regarding death. That and the crowds mixed reactions to Melon's performance. What exactly was considered the norm at these tournaments?

"Of course. Come this way." He led her down a maze of halls and left her at a door. He stood silently and she assumed she was to go in. She cracked the door open and looked inside. It was like a shrine to the martial arts. Weapons were enclosed in glass cases and books stacked the shelves.

"May I?" The monk nodded and she went in. As she passed each glass case she peered inside. Each weapon had a card inside with it labeling what it was, how old it was and who'd used it. She came to one case that was dated approximately to be twenty-five hundred years old. There was no other information other than its estimated age. It was a red staff, with a matching red case. She had an undeniable urge to touch it but she simply allowed herself to trace her fingers along one of the case's edges before wandering away.

She moved past it to the books and chose the oldest one she could find. It was beyond ancient and was very well preserved. She didn't have time to look at it very closely as she turned back to the room's entrance. Still holding the book she walked back to the door. "May I take this with me? I believe it'll answer a lot of my questions."

The monk considered it a moment. "You must promise to bring it back."

"Totally. Wouldn't break my word for nothing." He nodded and she rushed back towards the waiting area. She stripped her windbreaker off and wrapped it around the ancient tome before stashing them in a corner. She adjusted her gi across her shoulders and reknotted the belt as she moved towards the entranceway.

She got back to the archway just in time to see Zeus lying knocked out on the ground. "Titanus wins by K.O.!" The crowd roared with excitement as the second match ended.

"Next up will be the only female finalist, Tessellation going up against Samson." Above everyone else Tessa could hear Trish screaming her heart out. Piccolo stood with his arms folded over his chest looking solemn. She stepped out onto the platform along side of Samson and they met in the center and shook hands and bowed as was the Japanese custom. She backed up a few feet to make room for attacks and stood with her fists down at her sides, her right foot back slightly and leaning forward even less. It was the stance Piccolo had taught her on her first day. But by now she'd learned to defend it from everything.

She motioned for Samson to make the first move. She'd always fared best against Piccolo when she started on defense. He threw a high punch aiming for her face but she dodged and kneed him in the chest throwing him off balance. He stumbled for a step but quickly regained his composure to drop down and kick at her feet. She jumped using his shoulders for force and did a flip for the fun of it. As she came out of the flip she directed a hard kick to his back that sent him stumbling once more.

When she landed she was momentarily aware of the crowd shouting and cheering. They were cheering for her. She caught sight of Piccolo who was frowning still and she couldn't figure out why. What was she doing wrong? Was this taking too long? Wasn't she supposed to give the crowd a good show? Hell, she was having fun. Something she couldn't exactly claim to have had when sparring with him.

During her momentary lapse of concentration, Samson went on the attack again. He lifted her up above his head and tossed her from the ring. She was about to land in Piccolo's arms when she forced her power up to catch herself in mid air.

Her feet were inches from Piccolo's face and she could see he was fuming now. She gulped before lifting herself several feet into the air. Now that her little gift was out in the open, she might as well use it to her advantage. Samson looked stupefied. He though he had this match in the bag and now everything had turned. She continued to hover over the platform for several moments before lowering herself again. She needed the time to refocus. This wasn't about showing up Melon; it wasn't about showing off for the crowd. It was about winning this match and the whole tournament so she could train with King Kai.

She lowered herself back down so that she was level again with Samson. "How'd you do that?" he asked. He watched her like at any moment she could burst into flames and become the devil reincarnate.

She smiled as she put herself back into her favorite defensive stance. "Lots of practice, big boy. Lots of it. I suggest that if you're holding anything back, that you don't."

"This doesn't change anything. Now I know I can't toss you outta the ring." He gritted his teeth as he came at her again. Samson threw one punch after another at her but none connected. Tessa was moving too fast and was finally fully focused on the match. She still felt strangely weak but felt she was more than strong enough to beat this guy.

She turned the tables and began her own attacks by kneeing him in the stomach. He groaned clutching his gut and it was enough to give Tessa the upper hand. She used his bent over position to give her next punch more leverage. She knocked him into the air and moved quickly to hover above him.

People gasped as she disappeared for a moment. When she reappeared, she brought her hands together and used them to hammer Samson's body back down. He hit the stone platform with a sickening crack as a tile broke.

Tessa gently lowered herself back down as the announcer counted. "One…Two…Three…" Tessa began to hope that he would hurry because if Samson managed to get back up, she wasn't so sure if she'd still be able to fight herself. For some reason, she was feeling drained as if using flight had taken every last ounce of strength in her. "Nine…Ten! Tessa wins by K.O.!"

Tessa looked around at the cheering crowd and felt as if they were spinning on their own. She could feel herself falling and the last thing she heard was Trish's frantic voice crying, "Tessa!"

* * *

_Tanga sat in a field of tall grass watching two boys wrestle. They were training, trying to become stronger and their determination to outdo each other made for a good show. She clapped and cheered for the younger of the two who had long black hair that stood on end. When the older boy tripped and tumbled she laughed and jeered, "You're gonna trip over your own tail, Raditz."_

_"Why'd you let her come along, Vegeta?" the older boy asked as he pushed himself back up to his feet. He shot a nasty glare at Tanga before looking down at the much shorter, younger boy._

_"I thought there should be a witness to your humiliation," the younger boy, Vegeta, sneered._

_"You're full of it."_

_"And you're full of hot air, Raditz!" she shouted from the sidelines, cupping her hands around her mouth._

_"You think you're a fighter now, too?" Raditz snorted._

_Tanga pouted as she stood up. "I bet I'm just as good as you, if not better!"_

_Vegeta crossed to her and put a hand on her shoulder. "Not today, Girl." He pushed gently on her shoulder until she sat down obediently. Once sitting, she stuck her tongue out at Raditz making Vegeta laugh as he walked back to finish his fight._

* * *

Tessa opened her eyes and blinked at the bright light. It seemed to surround her bouncing and reflecting off the white walls. The light was a distraction though as her dream slipped through the cracks and disappeared. When she'd been younger she wouldn't have the foggiest clue as to what she'd dreamt of the night before. But more recently she was starting to remember the tiniest snatches of dreams but usually only for the first few waking moments before she would be distracted—like she was now.

"You're okay!" Tessa turned her head to see Trish sitting beside the bed. "Oh thank God."

"What happened?" Tessa looked around the sterile room and decided she must have been in the hospital. She saw Piccolo leaning against the wall opposite her so that he was staring down at the foot of the bed.

"After you won, you did win by the way, you collapsed. Scared the crap out of me!" Trish said grabbing Tessa's hand in both of her own and squeezing tight.

"I don't understand," Tessa said turning her attention away from the other girl and towards the Namekian. Her brows were furrowed.

Piccolo stood up straight and walked behind Trish. "Before your match, your energy level took a sharp dive."

"What?! How?"

"I don't know, and I don't like it one bit," Piccolo said scowling, his arms crossed tightly over his chest.

"Well, I don't either!" Tessa snapped. She felt as if she was stating the obvious, but apparently she needed to emphasize that to Piccolo.

"Maybe it was aliens from outer space who sucked the energy right out of you so that they can use it to conquer the earth." Trish threw her head back in mock evil laughter and saw Piccolo standing over her. "Or not! Totally not. I mean it could be a really bad cold. Killer germs and all." She fidgeted slightly and looked horror stricken. She grabbed Tessa's hand up and gave it a tight squeeze. "Get better so you can kick butt tomorrow. See you at the arena."

"If I don't see you, I'll at least hear you," Tessa said grinning as Trish nodded. Trish then quickly dodged around Piccolo's large frame and ducked out of the room as fast as her feet could carry her. Tessa waited until she was certain Trish was out of earshot. "And now for the professional opinion," she said turning away from the door to look back up at Piccolo, her brows furrowed as she pressed him from something that resembled real answers.

"I actually like her first theory."

"Great, aliens are stealing my energy and everyone else is losing their minds," Tessa sighed as she pressed her head deeper into the pillows and stared at the ceiling.

"Maybe not aliens, but something or someone is taking your energy. What did you do at the arena?"

"Nothing, just waited around for my match."

Frowning, Piccolo held up the records book she'd borrowed. "Lying to me won't help."

"That's mine!" Tessa held her hands out for it but Piccolo kept holding the book near his head.

"No, it belongs to the tournament. Now how did you get it?"

"One of the officials lent it to me. Now stop treating me like a child," she snapped thrusting her hand out again expectantly.

"I'll keep treating you like one because you are just a child. Besides you have to keep focused on the here and now, not the past."

"When you first found me, you kept pestering me about where I'd come from and I didn't have answers. Now it's almost like you're keeping things from me."

Piccolo's eyes narrowed but he gave Tessa the book. "You won't find your answers here. The answers are inside you and only you can pull them out. Perhaps if you worked more on your meditation…" But based on the way she snatched the book from his hands and turned away from him, he could see she wasn't going to listen to anything he had to say. He pulled the chair away from the bed and sat down near the door. He rested his chin on his hands and stared out the window.

Tessa opened the book and studied the rankings of some of the earliest tournaments-starting around the year twelve hundred. She flipped through nearly the entire book and didn't recognize a single name. "Wouldn't your 'super friends' have entered this tournament?"

"They did."

"Well, if they were so great, how come they're not in the finals?"

"Because those documents don't go far enough back in history."

"But wouldn't that be like pre-pre-historic! Maybe even before civilization practically."

Piccolo sighed. Had they not already had this conversation? How quickly the girl seemed to forget certain things. "I told you. The Earth was wiped out by several powerful androids."

Tessa sighed as she closed the book and frowned at it accusingly. She'd wanted answers and the book had failed to provide any. "Why can't I remember who I am and where I'm from? I don't remember anything before I was adopted. It's like I just came out of thin air." She let the book slide down by her side to rest on the sheets as she turned to gaze back at Piccolo. He was watching her intently. "Have you ever had a dream that you just couldn't remember no matter how hard you tried?"

"I don't dream. Does your question have a point?" he asked, his brows rising in interest.

"If it did, I lost it along the way," she sighed.

"Tess!" Tessa looked up to see a smiling Melon entering. There was a swing in his step as he approached her bed. "I saw Trish and she told me that I would find you here." With a flourish he produced a bouquet of gorgeous red roses and presented them with a bow. "Beautiful flowers for the beautiful girl. But they pale in comparison to you now that you're side by side. I should go back to the florist and insist upon a refund."

Tessa smiled at Melon's joking demeanor. It was such a refreshing change compared to Piccolo. "You shouldn't do that. They're quite pretty. Thank you." Tessa took them with a smile before looking to Piccolo. "Do you think we could have a minute?" Piccolo said nothing but as he left, he shot Melon a warning glare. "Ignore him. He's sore with me because I used some of my tricks already," Tessa said waving Melon to sit down next to her on the bed.

"Some? You mean there's more where that came from?" he asked as he accepted her offer and perched onto the edge. He leaned back on one hand that was planted near her hip and smiled down at her.

"Can't say. We're opponents remember?" Tessa winked. "If I told you, then you'd know what to expect."

"Of course. That reminds me. I also came to tell you that Micalo won his match against Jack Manson." With his free hand, he picked up hers and squeezed it gently.

"Thanks for the heads up."

"He's the last champion and the crowd favorite. Everyone loves an action hero," Melon warned. "You're going to find him more challenging than you think."

"He'll have a lot of disappointed fans then."

"You're very confident. Don't get carried away," Melon warned, his voice sounding very lighthearted though.

"I won't." She opened her mouth in a great yawn and quickly covered it with her hand and giggled self-consciously.

"I'll leave you to rest." He placed a hand on the opposite side of her and leaned down. "Good night, Beautiful." He pressed his lips against her cheek and she could feel herself drifting into a blissful sleep. His lips lingered until she was fast asleep. "I can't thank you enough, Tess."

Piccolo stood in the hall and frowned when he sensed Tessa's energy level drop off quickly. He stepped into the room to find out what happened to see Melon tucking the sheet in around her sleeping form. She slept on her side, mouth open and snoring softly. She laid just sprawled out enough to knock everything off the bed.

Melon picked up the book and flowers and placed them on the bedside table next to her windbreaker. When he turned around and saw Piccolo, he smiled widely showing his teeth. Piccolo thought that he'd never seen a more fake smile in his life. "She must have been exhausted," Melon said softly before pantomiming a shush as if he needed to warn Piccolo to also keep his voice down.

"She wasn't tired," Piccolo argued as he watched Melon suspiciously.

"You must have been mistaken then." Melon just patted Piccolo's shoulder causing the older man to brush away his hand in agitation. As Melon left, he noticed something very wrong, his energy level was much higher than when he'd come in.

* * *

_Tanga was trotting behind the two boys as they left the field. A Saiyan city lay ahead of them. She skipped to and fro picking wildflowers. Her arms were filled and as she picked but she also kept a sharp eye on the boys. They were too busy boasting to one another to pay her any mind._

_"You can't beat me. I'm more advanced in my training than you."_

_"Training's worthless when I'm stronger than you." Tanga smiled to herself at Vegeta's boasting. She skipped along picking another flower._

_"Prove it."_

_"Fine. Hit me with your best shot and I'll deflect it with ease."_

_"Fine, it's your funeral." Raditz looked up and saw Tessa with the flowers and she froze. "And she'll send the flowers." Vegeta looked up and frowned at her but said nothing. Raditz stepped back and aimed his index finger at Vegeta's chest. A ball of energy formed on the tip of it and he fired it. Tessa stood watching while she clutched the flowers to her chest, crushing some of the blooms in her worry._

_Vegeta raised a hand and knocked the energy blast away from himself but it shot directly at Tanga. She stood gaping as the energy blast came directly at her and was too stunned to move. The flowers blew up in her hands creating a cloud of petals that rained back down on her. She was knocked off her feet and landed a foot back still gripping what was left of the flower stalks._

_"Look what you did, you imbecile!" Vegeta snapped at Raditz as he ran to her and scooped her up from where she lay among the tall grasses and put her back on her feet. He knelt in front of her and checked her from head to toe, knocking the stems from her fists, and brushing dirt from her shoulders. _

_Satisfied that she was physically okay he stood back up and looked at her in the face. A single tear rolled down her cheek from the stinging blow to her chest. "Stop your crying, Tanga." He wiped the tear away with his thumb and in the same movement swung her up onto his shoulders. "Don't worry, he didn't see you cry," Vegeta said calmly before giving her ankles a slight squeeze as he turned back to where Raditz was waiting on the path._

_She giggled and playfully tugged at his hair. "Giddy up!" she cried already having forgotten the blast that struck her and destroyed her flowers._

_"How about not. Now what were you doing just standing there?" He started walking again and Raditz picked up pace beside him._

_She hung her head as she replied. "Picking flowers."_

_"Humph."_

_"I won't do it again."_

_"You'd best not. Saiyans don't do flower arrangements."_

_"Yes, Veggie."_

_"Looks like even she can take your shots, Raditz." Vegeta snorted as he rejoined the other boy on their walk back towards the city gates._

_"Just shut it," Raditz sneered crossing his arms over his chest defensively. Tanga and Vegeta just snickered at the boys wounded pride._


	5. Chapter 5: The Semi-Finals

**Disclaimer: If this were a cross-over, Dr. Who would appear at any moment and fix everything. But it's not. And I don't own Piccolo, Vegeta, Frieza, or King Vegeta.**

_To my reviewers:_

_NatNicole: Cut the poor girl some slack, haha...she's sixteen. He's her puppy love-and gorgeous. Of course she's naïve. Hell, I was still naïve at twenty-one, myself. And during rewrite, I did consider wising her up...it just seemed unnatural for her to have that kind of wisdom beyond her years when she's so very, very inexperienced in just about everything. I do appreciate you rooting for her to be smarter. I root for her too. Sadly, she insists on learning things the hard way much like my teenage niece. Teens. *shakes head*_

_TheTimeWeOwn: Thank you. Tessa is sort of like the devil on my shoulder. She what makes life fun._

_Princess of all Saiya-jins: Wow. I will take that compliment. Who doesn't love an ego boost?_

**Chapter 5: The Semi-Finals**

Tessa awoke in the hospital feeling groggy. Her dream still dancing about the back of her mind, but it was already escaping her. Something about flowers… She sighed as she stretched her hands up above her head and gently pushed herself up to sit.

"Here take this." Piccolo was standing over her and he picked up her hand, turning it palm side up before dropping into it a small bean-like pill.

"What is it?" Tessa asked rolling the bean in her hand so that she was pinching it between her thub and middle finger as she held up to her face for closer inspection. It looked like any other bean her mother might have tried to make her eat when she was younger.

"A senzu bean. It'll give you back your strength so that you can fight today," he said matter of factly.

Sometimes it was hard to tell with him whether or not he really cared. She had the feeling that she should be interpreting the magic bean more than his facial expressions for that answer though. "Cool." She swallowed it dry and could almost immediately feel it take effect. "I had this really weird dream," she said suddenly changing the topic as she ran a hand back through her hair. She wasn't even entirely sure why she was bringing it up.

"What about?" he asked without looking up at her. He couldn't, not without her being able to tell just how overly interested he was in her answer. He kept hoping that at some point she'd start being able to remember her past.

"Picking flowers," she said simply and Piccolo looked disappointed but he hid his reaction so quickly that Tessa had to ask herself if she'd actually seen something flicker there at all.

"Feel better?" he asked finally looking up and giving her an appraising look.

"Better than ever! Can I leave?" Piccolo nodded and Tessa threw the covers back. She grabbed her windbreaker off the table beside the bed and never noticed that the book was missing and the flowers were in the trash can.

Although they were early to the arena, Tessa and Piccolo had to fight through a giant crowd. Piccolo seemed completely oblivious but Tessa took notice and was agitated. The crowd was mostly made up of women and girls. What few guys were there looked like they'd give anything to be anywhere else. She finally made her way to the front and recognized Micalo at the front of the group signing autographs. She rolled her eyes at the way the girls were swooning for him. She couldn't tell if they liked him or his paparazzi. Some went straight for him while others turned to wave at the dozens of cameras.

"Ah…my opponent for today, Miss Reynolds," Micalo gushed as he tore his attention away from the hoardes of adoring fans. He reached out towards her as if hoping to shake her hand but Tessa ignored the gesture.

"I prefer Tessa," she said blandly. Now that his attention was on her, and not his fans, dozens of girls were sending her evil looks. Tessa figured that if she were about a hundred times weaker, she would have needed to worry about getting mobbed. The look seemed to carry throughout the crowd though and she began to think that maybe she had a problem either way. Sometimes quantity did win out over quality.

"Of course, of course. Tessa, I see you've been released from the _hospital_," Micalo said, stressing the last part and the reporters were quick to take note.

"Yes, and too bad for you that I've got a clean bill of health. Nothing's going to hold me back," she replied as microphones were shoved in her direction eager to capture her response.

His smile never faded and he laughed at her. "I see you've got a good sense of humor as well."

"Yes, ha ha." Her laughter was forced as she narrowed her eyes at him. She was beginning to take a great dislike for him. A sense of humor? He thought that was her trying to be funny? Far from it. "Now if you don't mind…" She went to walk away but was bomb shelled by the reporters.

They shoved their cameras, microphones, and recorders into her face. She hadn't even realized that they'd managed to surround her. "You sound confident. Do you really believe you can defeat Micalo? Why were you hospitalized after yesterday's match? Will it affect your fight today? How do you explain your supernatural powers?"

Tessa did her best to process each question separately and respond appropriately. "Of course I can…It's not important…It will have no effect at all…and my gifts aren't supernatural at all." They all glanced at each other after her last response and pushed in again. It was as if they were of a single hive mind. It was actually starting to be intimidating that they were so in sync in their verbal attacks as well as their physical reactions.

"What do you mean by that last statement, Tessa?" one reporter finally got up the nerve to ask.

"I've trained hard. What I was able to do yesterday in the arena was the product of that hard work." They were about to toss another round of questions at her but she threw her hands up into the air. "Speaking of training…I have more to do before the match starts. I don't have time for this right now. Goodbye!" They looked shocked and obviously thought her rude for turning her back on them and leaving them with their questions still hanging on the tips of their tongues. When she broke free of their ranks, they turned back to Micalo and he was all to glad to have their attention back on him, and him alone.

But Piccolo looked pleased. "I'm impressed. Most try to attract the press, not send it packing."

"I'm no suck up. I want you to help me meditate before my match," she said in all seriousness, her hands resting lightly on her hips.

His eyes widened a little in shock. Meditation wasn't something she was bad at. It was something she detested because she was horrible at it. She had no patience for it at all. "May I ask why?"

"Something's been nagging at the back of my brain. I guess if I figure out what it is, then I'll be able to concentrate. To be honest I think it's a dream, or a memory, or a premonition or something."

They walked to a quiet corner of the arena and he motioned for her to sit. She sat down on the ground cross-legged before slowly drifting into the air. She closed her eyes and rested her hands on her knees.

"You're too tense, Tessa. Relax," he admonished her gently and it illicited a sigh from her in response.

"If I do relax, my mind will just wander," she said with a small amount of whine in her voice. There was a reason she hated meditation. _Just hope it doesn't get so lost and that it won't ever come back._

"That's fine. That's what you want even. You're trying to stumble across something that you're mind normally holds back from you." She nodded to the reassuring tone of his voice and let her mind go.

_Tanga still rode on Vegeta's shoulders as they approached a nearby city. She rested her head on his while wrapping her arms around his neck. The slight bounce in his step was slowly putting her to sleep and she yawned lazily before burying her face into his hair._

_She was rudely awoken when Vegeta swung her back down, setting her at the base of a set of stairs. She gave him a sleepy pout but followed him and Raditz up the stairs. She hummed to herself as he led her up and into the palace._

_As soon as Vegeta stepped through the door, a man ran up to Vegeta from within. "Prince Vegeta, you're presence is required in the throne room!"_

_"What is it Nappa?" Vegeta looked irritated with the interruption. He obviously had other plans for himself in mind._

_Nappa looked frantic and his panic quickly spread to Raditz. "It's Lord Frieza! His men came in and began attacking…"_

_Vegeta held up his hand to silence him and started walking away. Tanga stood confused watching him leave and could feel the infectious panic creeping in. Vegeta stopped, looking back and motioned for her to come with him._

_"Vegeta is that such a good idea?" Nappa ventured._

_"Are you questioning me?" Nappa shook his head in the negative but Tanga couldn't help but look up at him questioningly as she caught up to him. He put a hand on her shoulder reassuringly. He kept it there as he led her down the hall._

_"I'm scared."_

_"How can you be scared?" he asked of her without looking down._

_She gazed up at him, her eyes wide. "It's too quiet." She was too young to know the quiet before a storm but she could sense that something was going to happen. She walked closer to him, afraid that if she were to be separated from him that she wouldn't make it to their destination._

_"Saiyans don't get scared. You can't ever show anyone fear. It's a weakness, and I know you're not weak." She nodded but his words didn't really help._

_They walked around a corner to find dead warriors and guards littering the floor. Tanga squealed and quickly hugged Vegeta burying her face into his chest. "I don't care, Veggie. I'm scared."_

_"You're shocked. There's a difference, learn it." He wore a face of stone that showed no grief or any other emotion as he peeled her off and led her past the corpses. She whimpered and he stopped again. "Listen, Tanga, whatever happens, you've got to stay strong. You can't let anyone see you crack under pressure. So chin up," he growled. She crossed her arms over her chest and did her best to imitate his expressionless face. "That's it. Now come on."_

_He pushed through a set of doors and Tanga slipped in behind him. She stared around the room that had been transformed from the great hall that was used by King Vegeta to deal with all matters into a room filled with death and decay. Its bright windows were shadowed leaving the room in dim gray light. It was filled with strangers now instead of the familiar Saiyan guards and warriors and the strangest of all sat on the throne displacing King Vegeta. "What is this?" Vegeta asked as he stood in the middle of the room._

_"Glad you could make it, Prince Vegeta." Tanga stood hiding behind Vegeta gripping the back of his armor. She peered around him to get a better look at the source of the voice. She saw King Vegeta standing nearby being held by one of the new men._

_She looked back at the throne and frowned. "That's not yours," she said in her toughest voice. The man sitting on the throne struck her as ugly even though purple and white were her favorite colors. He had a sick, twisted smile that made Tanga want to hide behind Vegeta's back again._

_He laughed and craned his neck to get a better look at her as she pulled back behind Vegeta. "It is now, girl. I'm your lord and master, Lord Frieza."_

_"I don't think so. Not while my father's still alive." Vegeta looked very brave to her standing up to this stranger. She'd lost her nerve after he'd laughed at her._

_"That can be fixed." Like Raditz had done before, a ball of glowing energy formed on his fingertip. He turned and fired it at the king, narrowly missing as it cut across the king's cheek, a thin line of blood forming. Tanga screamed and Vegeta pulled her out from behind him, instantly covering her mouth and turning her away from Frieza. She could read the warning in his eyes as he stared her down. She could also see the pain flare up and die again just as quickly. She clamped her mouth shut again and bit her tongue forcing herself not to scream again as she turned back around._

_"Did I scare you?" Frieza was directing his attention on her once again. _

_"No, I was just shocked." She crossed her arms again and tried her best to look brave like Vegeta. She craned her head back slightly to see his reaction and could've sworn he looked proud of her for a moment._

_Frieza got up and moved towards the two of them. Vegeta stood behind her, hands clamped down on her shoulders keeping her still so that she wouldn't run. She didn't have plans on running though at this point. She wanted to be tough just like he was. "I don't frighten you?"_

_"No." She stomped her foot making a small echo in the suddenly very quiet room. It was as if everyone was watching this exchange of wits between the giant power and small child._

_"I could kill you in an instant, you brat." A ball of energy was forming on the tip of Frieza's finger again._

_"You don't scare me." She turned and stuck her nose in the air._

_Frieza looked furious and was about to lower his finger to aim at the back of her head when Vegeta stepped in between. "Ignore her. She's as stubborn as they come. You'll never scare her into cooperation, nor will you scare me."_

_"But young prince, I already have." Tanga looked back over her shoulder to see what Frieza meant. When she saw Vegeta's face she realized that he'd lied to her earlier. Saiyans did get scared, because right now he was scared that he might lose her._

Tessa's eyes snapped open and she realized she was gasping for air from holding her breath. Piccolo leaned over at her, concern on his face and a hand hesitantly outstretched. "What happened?"

"I think I know why I blocked all of my memories. I saw Frieza threaten King Vegeta. I was there front row and center for the downfall of the Saiyan race." She didn't even recognize half the words and names rolling off her tongue, but she knew that they were important. Piccolo said nothing as she lowered herself back down to the ground. She slowly pushed herself up to her feet feeling strange from her meditation. She grabbed Piccolo's hand and in her distracted state allowed him to steady her. "His son, Prince Vegeta, saved me. We must have been childhood friends or something like that because I was with him when it happened and he protected me. I couldn't have even been four yet." She blinked a few times before looking up at Piccolo with wide eyes hoping that he could shed some light on what she was babbling about.

"The second match will now begin!" The voice boomed from loudspeakers dotting the arena and Tessa stared at the nearest one in shock.

"What?! I missed the first match!" It snapped her out of her thoughts bringing her back to the present more effectively than a slap to the face. Tessa didn't waste any time as she ran off while Piccolo walked back to the stands.

"Over here, Piccolo!" Piccolo recognized Trish sitting in the front row. She was waving her hands madly trying to get his attention. He moved in beside her and sat down. "Where have you been? You missed Melon's win. And if you thought yesterday was impressive, today he was out of this world."

"I'm sure he was." Piccolo narrowed his eyes as he watched Micalo take the center of the platform. Micalo held his hands above his head waving to his adoring fans. Girls waved signs proclaiming their undying love for him while male companions or nearby spectators grimaced at the blocked views.

"Yeah, he fought the entire match without touching the platform! He was so strong too. Titanus didn't stand a snowball's chance in hell. Melon's finishing move was some kind of firework. But he fired it from the end of his finger."

"A special beam cannon."

"A what?"

"One of my techniques." Piccolo realized that this tournament had just become extremely dangerous for Tessa.

Micalo was already out there waiting when Tessa sprinted through the archway. "And here, I thought that you lost your confidence."

"You wish, Micalo. I'm no quitter and I'm not going anywhere except straight to the top," she said mounting the stairs two at a time until she was standing opposite him on the platform.

"You're quite the ambitious one, aren't you?" he teased, his hands crossed lightly over his chest as he grinned.

"The match will now begin!"

Tessa didn't bother to respond as she sent a flying kick at Micalo. He neatly dodged it by tumbling away. "Gee, I was thinking a stunt double would've stepped in by now," she chuckled as she landed nimbly and took up a defensive stance.

"That's where you're wrong, Tessa. I do all of my own stunts," he replied calmly as he turned to face her.

"I'm real happy for you. Just hope this match doesn't kill your reputation."

She disappeared from his view but he felt her attacks come from every direction. They were so fast that they felt like a single blow that covered his entire body. The attacks ceased and she reappeared in front of him. As he watched, she multiplied a dozen times over forming a circle around him—her personal spin on the zanzoken.

He spun around looking at her multiples. "What is this?" he sputtered.

"Attack us if you can," they chorused. Micalo frowned but jumped kicking at the head of the first Tessa. His foot went straight through her head and she dissolved. Micalo figured out the trick and began to attack each of the clones quickly causing each one to disappear.

As Micalo attacked one of the remaining copies, she raised her hand and caught his fist. A look of shock crossed his face before she grabbed his arm then and threw him into the air.

She jumped up into the air next to him. "I got this feeling your next movie's gonna be a bust. Call it a woman's intuition." He did his best to kick and punch at her while still soaring up into the air. She blocked him with one hand while using her other to cover her yawn. "See you in Hollywood, Micky Baby." She kicked him hard in the chest and he fell back down. She hovered watching him fall into the grass.

The crowd stared at their fallen hero before looking back up at Tessa. They broke into cheering as she touched back down on the platform. "Tessellation will advance to the final match!" If anything the crowd only got louder with this confirmation of Micalo's defeat.

Trish jumped the wall and sprinted up to Tessa. "You did it! You were so awesome.' Tessa smiled at her friend as she sat down on the edge of the platform.

"Thanks, but who won the first match?"

"Melon." Tessa's face fell at the news.

"I don't want to fight him."

Piccolo was walking towards them and he looked grim. "Tessa you want a lot of things. You need to decide what's most important to you and your goals."

"Training with King Kai," she admitted grimly. She slid off the edge of the platform and stood in the grass feeling determined to follow her heart. Now that she had some insight to her past, she didn't want to quit now. If anything, she believed that King Kai or maybe if she could meet a Supreme Kai would be able to tell her more—maybe even who her family was. Piccolo watched as her expression hardened and her brows furrowed with the contemplation. "Excuse me," she said softly before walking away through the archway on the other side of the platform. She was nearly as distracted now as she had been right after her meditation.

She saw Micalo being checked out by his personal trainer and already his shoulder was being iced down. For the first time, the reporters were no longer interested in him and his action movies. They had swarmed to Melon, the new tournament favorite since Micalo's defeat.

"Melon! We need to talk," she said softly, but he heard her nonetheless, as he turned from the reporters and smiled when he saw it was her.

"I was just about to come look for you," he said grinning as he held out his hands towards her much like Micalo had done earlier. The déjà vu was unsettling.

"Uh huh…I can see that," she said somewhat sarcastically as her glance shifted towards the reporters who were eyeing her up again. "Can we talk…alone?" She turned her body away from him and held her hands in such a way as if to say, you're going to come with me if you want to talk a second longer.

"Of course; this way." He put his arm around her shoulders and led her away from the people. "Now what did you want to say?" he asked keeping his voice still confidentially low as there will still people milling about, even if they weren't press.

"Just that no matter what happens tomorrow, I'll most likely never see you again. If I win, I'm going to train with King Kai. If I lose, which I'm not planning on doing, I'll be going back to train with Piccolo." She looked up sideways at him and waited to see his reaction. She had to admit that she was a little disappointed that her first real relationship would have to come to an end so quickly.

"Oh." He was looking down at the ground and she couldn't read his reaction. All she could see were his furrowed brows beneath the blonde curls.

"I had fun, don't get me wrong. But tomorrow, we'll be opponents. I don't plan on taking it easy on you." She placed her hand on his arm hoping to get a reaction from him. She really didn't want to end this on bad terms.

He looked up at her his eyes twinkling. "I wouldn't have it any other way. You're a fighter and I like you for that." She blushed and was about to turn away when Melon caught her chin in his hand turning her back. He kissed her on the lips forcefully, pressing with the hardness of his teeth against her tightly pressed lips, and Tessa's eyes snapped wide in shock. She was so stunned by the fact that he'd done something like that, that she felt lightheaded. She caught sight of Piccolo out of the corner of her eye before she blacked out, going weak in the knees and slumping fully into Melon's arms.

Piccolo knew he shouldn't have let her walk away like that. Not when he suspected Melon as the root of Tessa's troubles. Who else would she want to see before tomorrow? She was much too young and naïve to realize this boy wasn't in love with her but was using her like a battery. He realized that he was much too late when he saw Melon kissing her, Tessa already slumping over in his hands.

Melon put her down gently, not seeming to care that he'd completely drained her, and smiled as he knelt down to gaze at her. He swept loose strands of hair back from her face, taking whatever was left as he brushed his hand down over her cheek. "I meant it when I said I liked you. It's a shame it's ended this way." He then stood and turned to see Piccolo rushing towards them.

"What have you done to her?" Piccolo growled.

"You wouldn't understand, old timer," he said and flew away before Piccolo could protest. Piccolo would normally have given chase but right now he was more concerned with Tessa.

"Hey, what's the big idea leaving me all alone…Tessa! Oh my God! What's wrong with her?" Trish raced over as fast as her legs could carry her as Piccolo easily scooped her friend up into his arms.

"Melon," was the response she got back from the alien.

Trish pushed Piccolo's hands out of her way as she shoved her own in to feel for a pulse on her friend's neck. She looked frantic as she had difficulty finding one. "She's so faint," she whispered gazing down at Tessa's ashen complexion. Piccolo grunted as he stepped back from Trish's reach and then flew back to the hospital. Trish stood gaping at the sky watching as their figures became smaller on the horizon and suddenly what little Piccolo had said struck her like a bowling ball on the head. "And what do you mean Melon happened?!" Of course, she got no response from him but she certainly didn't waste any time as she turned and ran back to the hospital.

"I'm sorry miss, but I can't let you in. She's in ICU, so unless you're family…" the nurse calmly replied as she continued to sort through the medical charts and forms that she would need for her rounds.

"She doesn't have family!" Trish wailed in desperation, her hands coming down hard on the counter and the nurse's gaze snapped back up at her.

"Then no one will be able to see her," the nurse said indifferently as she went back to gathering her paperwork.

"The girl doesn't have anybody! You gotta let me in to see her and make sure she's okay."

"I'm sorry." The nurse looked up this time and actually did have a sympathetic expression as she frowned. Policies are policies and she couldn't change them no matter how sad it was that a girl was admitted to the hospital without anyone to care.

"Don't be sorry, do something!" The nurse shook her head and Trish accepted defeat as she took a seat in the waiting room. _I hope Piccolo has better luck._

Piccolo didn't leave anything to luck. He took Tessa to the hospital and then waited to find out which room she had been taken to and left her there alone. He knew that for quite a long while the doctors would be examining her trying to find the mysterious source of her condition. Of course they'd never find it because it was inflicted by something that couldn't be explained medically. Nor would they believe him if he told them that someone had sucked the energy right out of her. Besides, there would be nothing they could do except to stabilize her and make sure she didn't dehydrate or anything else.

He waited until late that night before returning to the hospital and even then he didn't waste his time with a receptionist. He took one cursory glance at Trish sleeping in a waiting room chair before going into the maze of corridors.

The receptionist stood to stop him but when she got a good look at his face she sat back down again. "I need a vacation. All these night shifts are getting to me." She rubbed her temples as if to erase a bad dream from her mind.

Piccolo walked straight into the ICU and on to Tessa's room and went inside to find her still unconscious. Her face had a sick gray pallor from her dangerous energy level. Her heart rate and blood pressure were still weak and the machine's beeping was slow and soft. He looked down at the senzu bean lying in his hand. He could only hope that it alone would be enough to bring her back from the brink of death. But if she was anything like the other Saiyans—_like her brother, _he thought—Melon had made a fatal mistake by taking this much without finishing her. The other Saiyans only became stronger with each close to death experience.

He hated to see her like this. He gently forced her mouth open, dropping the senzu bean onto her tongue. She swallowed it unconsciously and as Piccolo watched the gray slowly became a healthy pink again. She rolled over, stretched and curled up into the fetal position in her sleep before yawning, all without waking up.

By morning she would be okay again. Come morning, Melon would learn his mistake in messing with a Saiyan and Tessa would most likely be more than glad to teach him the pains of fighting with someone out of your class. And Piccolo had no doubt in his mind that Tessa would easily outclass Melon.

_Vegeta shut the doors behind them and refused to look down at the younger girl. He growled under his breath but said nothing intelligible. Tanga walked along beside him in silence for a while but it didn't last long before her own pride caught up with her._

_"You lied to me, Veggie." She walked beside him pouting. She couldn't understand why he'd interfered earlier. She'd only been doing what he'd told her to do. She hadn't shown any fear._

_"I did no such thing." He scowled down at her. He was still upset about how naïve she had acted a few short minutes ago and now she had the gall to call him a liar._

_"You said Saiyans never get scared. You were scared back there." She gave him an 'I told you so' look but her grin quickly faded when she saw his face. She couldn't remember ever being this confused before._

_He was frowning, his brows creased with thought. "That's different, Tanga."_

_"How?" She was still feeling argumentative because she sensed that maybe she could win for once._

_"When you're scared it's for yourself. I was scared for you because Frieza's not going to take that type of treatment from a little girl." He looked down at her and she realized that he was only being protective of her. He didn't want something to happen to her. But she was still puzzled about Frieza._

_"Well, who does he think he is anyway? Why should he hurt Saiyans? We never did anything to him. I never even heard of him until today." She cocked her head to the side and her confused expression looked a lot like a lost puppy dog._

_"He thinks he's in charge because he's stronger than father. And he hurts us because he fears us. That's how people deal with their fears, they just destroy the source."_

_"But why should he fear us?"_

_"Because someday, there's going to be a Super Saiyan."_

_"I may be little, but I'm not stupid, Veggie." She crossed her arms over her small chest and did her best to look tall._

_"You better believe it, Tanga. Someday, there'll be a Super Saiyan who'll be able to defeat everyone, even Frieza."_

_"I bet you'll be one," she said. "Someday," she added as an afterthought. She smiled up at him looking for his approval. He seemed to like it when she fed his ego._

_"Of course. I'm destined for it." He looked very smug as he ruffled her already wild red hair. "And you can't argue with destiny." She giggled at his attention._

_"What am I destined for?" she asked innocently._

_"Great things, Tanga. Great things." She smiled as she momentarily forgot the horror she'd just seen. She hugged him before he could protest and Vegeta patted her back apprehensively._


	6. Chapter 6: The Final Match

**Disclaimer: I suck at writing battle sequences. Sorry. Luckily the forecast for future chapters has a high chance of drama with just a sprinkling of violence.**

_Authors Note: And here, the much awaited final match. I really hope I don't disappoint but this is the one fight sequence I've worried over the most._

**Chapter 6: The Final Match**

Tessa awoke in the hospital bed again and groaned. _Not again._ She rolled over and saw Piccolo standing nearby watching over her sleep. "What happened?"

"What do you remember?" he asked ignoring her question.

"I won the match against Micalo and then…Melon!" She sat up in bed suddenly looking furious. Her brows furrowed and her lips drew a thin line across her face as she clenched her fists. "That good for nothing son of a…" Tessa temporarily forgot about her dream. She had other things on her mind.

"Now's not the time. Hold on to that thought for the match," Piccolo said cutting her off and glad that his tutee was finally getting serious about the tournament. It had only taken two trips to the hospital for her to realize that her 'friend' wasn't so good for her.

"I'm gonna kill him!" She threw the covers back and was on her feet in a flash. She found her gi lying folded at the end of the bed and quickly began to change.

A nurse appeared in the doorway and rushed in to stop her patient who was busy kicking the toe of her boot into the linoleum to straighten the shoe out on her foot. "No! You must rest. Please lie back down." She pushed on Tessa's shoulders but the girl wouldn't budge an inch no matter how hard she tried.

"I'm fine," Tessa snapped looking back at the nurse sharply. "Now if you don't mind I'm going to rid the earth of a certain slime ball." She clenched her fist and it glowed golden for a moment. She then stormed from the room, destination known—the arena.

The nurse turned and saw Piccolo and put her hands on her hips menacingly. "You…you talked her into this! Last night you bring her in on her deathbed and now…" The nurse was moving steadily towards Piccolo getting into his face, her finger wagging menacingly.

Piccolo placed a hand on the nurse's shoulder bringing her to a stop. "She's fine. You won't find any tougher than her," he said reassuringly. Piccolo then left the room without any further explanation to follow his pupil.

The nurse stood staring at the empty room and sighed as she sat down on the bed. "Why me?" she muttered, resting her chin in her hands.

* * *

"We'll give her five more minutes. Please be patient!" The announcer seemed desperate to bring calm back to the crowd. Everyone in the arena was antsy, waiting for the final match to start. None of them wanted it to be won by default. They had all paid good money to see this match and now they might not be getting their money's worth. Trish sat on the edge of her seat impatiently awaiting the arrival of Tessa. She now only had five more minutes to get out of the hospital and back to the arena prepared to fight or Melon would win by default. She hadn't seen hide nor hair of either Piccolo or Tessa since she left the hospital. This morning when she'd awoken, they still wouldn't allow her in to visit Tessa because she was still in ICU. Trish found that hard to believe and blamed the doctors for not checking on her recently. There was no way that Tessa would still be in intensive care, not with being as strong as she was. She scowled at Melon. He looked so smug out there. She could tell that he was planning on Tessa not being able to show. "Melon, you're a lying cheat! You hear?!"

A few people around her stared at her as if she was crazy and she couldn't blame them either. Out of nowhere, a teenage girl was trash talking the new tournament favorite and for no apparent reason. No one knew what Melon had done to Tessa and even if she told them, they'd never believe her in a million years. Melon must have heard as well because he turned around slowly to see who had shouted. When he saw her, his brows narrowed and his expression tightened. Trish returned his gaze with a steely glare. She thought she was going to be sick watching him basking in the glory. Suddenly something caught Trish's eye and she looked up to see a flash of purple and green. _Tessa!_ "And now you've got hell to pay mister!" Trish shouted gleefully as she began to hop up and down in her seat.

Melon looked up as well and his face fell slack with his surprise. "If you live through this, you're luckier than you look," Tessa said as she landed on the platform and the crowd erupted with applause and their roar was deafening as they waited for the match to begin. "Did you really think that you'd get away with using me like that?" Tessa looked furious and anyone who knew why couldn't blame her.

"I think I already did," he replied calmly despite the fact that he was puzzled at how she'd so quickly recovered from their last kiss.

"We'll see about that." She got into her defensive stance and frowned when she saw Melon mimic her stance.

"Anything you can do, I can do better, Tess." He was smirking at her and all she wanted to do was wipe that dopey look right off of his face. She growled under her breath at his remark as she jumped into action. She threw several punches but he blocked all of them with equal speed and dexterity and tried to land a few blows himself. She was able to block them as well, but she was stumped. It was as if she was fighting against herself. _How do you beat yourself?_ she thought. "Let's cut to the chase, Tess." She nodded as she pushed her energy up higher allowing her to lift up and off the platform. Melon did the same, clenching his fists, and looking for a fight. He was muttering something under his breath but she couldn't understand what he was saying. She watched him closely waiting for a sign of what he was up to.

He opened his fists to reveal two balls of glowing energy and he brought them together at his side. When he looked up at her he was smirking again. Tessa's eyes were wide with shock at seeing her favorite energy attack being turned against her. He released it with a great "HA!" and Tessa saw that she had no choice but to take the hit if she was to protect the crowd from being obliterated. She caught the blast in her hands but its force pushed her through the air so that she was now over the people. The wind had been knocked out of her and she forced her hands together breaking the blast apart with a great show of sparks.

"You could kill someone with that!" she admonished him. She moved back over the platform feeling indignant. Not only was he trying to kill her, he didn't seem to care that he could hurt an innocent spectator as well.

"That was kind of the point." She clenched her fists as she lunged herself at him again. She was going to make sure that this ended before someone got seriously hurt with the exception of him of course. "You said so yourself, only one of us can win. And you sounded pretty determined yourself. Why should I not fight to my full potential, either?"

People watched on amazed at what was now becoming a light show. "Because, this isn't your full potential. You stole that energy—from me! And now, I'm going to take it back."

"Oh, I'm scared now. Look at me quaking in my boots," he sneered and rolled his eyes.

"You will be when I'm done with you." He caught her next punch and twisted her arms back around so that her back was pressed up against him. He wrapped his arm around her neck slowly closing the airway. "Hell hath no fury like a woman's wrath..." she breathed hoarsely.

"Don't flatter yourself. You're nothing more than a mere girl." She gritted her teeth and gave him a swift kick to the groin. He released her and doubled over at the excruciating pain. She flew back several feet pushing her energy up even higher to make up for what he'd managed to drain.

"A little help, Piccolo," she murmuered, glancing down at her friends and saw that he understood the message. He stood up while Trish sat on the edge of her seat. She seemed caught up in the action and paid no attention to what Piccolo was doing. It didn't matter, she'd see in a short while. She was now slightly higher than Melon and began to fire a continuous stream of blasts. The scatter shot wasn't the most effective technique but it was one she wanted to try for herself. However, it was enough to keep Melon busy as he dodged them. Several connected, knocking him around in the air like a pinball. He flipped and spun with each blast that connected.

Down below, Piccolo was busy himself by protecting the audience with a barrier made of his own energy. He could tell that Tessa had the upper hand in practice and strength, but she had a weakness in strategizing. She normally wasn't able to think much further than her current situation.

She stopped the attack; breathing heavily from the adrenaline rush she was now experiencing and she waited as the smoke cleared to reveal Melon, energy glowing at his fingertips. "Such a shame that it should end this way. We could've been good together."

"Well, it's not about to end because I want this to be slow and painful for you. And there's nothing between us; you shot all chances of that to hell and back." He narrowed his eyes as he shot at her. Tessa gulped as she recognized her teacher's special beam cannon. The first shot was aimed straight at her while the second spiraled around the first preparing to drill straight through her.

She didn't have much time to think as she brought her hands together in front of her chest and formed a ball of concentrated purple energy quickly and fired it at Melon's shot. She pushed it with her palms forward and the energy beam eventually overpowered Melon's attack. He moved out of the way at the last second when her shot whizzed past and out of the stadium. It tore through the forest that was nearby uprooting trees as it went.

She'd learned the Galick Gun in theory only and until today she hadn't even attempted it. "No way. You don't know that attack."

"What would you know? What I'd like to know is how you even stole some of my attacks…and Piccolo's for that matter."

"All with a little touch," he said teasingly as he waggled his index finger in front of her. "And with every punch I land, you'll start to weaken again."

Tessa gritted her teeth worried that by the end of this match he would have annoyed her into grinding her teeth to dust. She clenched her fists as she spoke, "Then I'm not going to let you go near me." She flexed every muscle in her body forcing her energy to rise to the surface. Her hair crackled with static electricity and a brilliant green aura formed around her body. Suddenly, several bolts of green lightening were attacking Melon.

* * *

As Piccolo watched, he had to admit that he was impressed. He'd only explained the lightening flash surprise attack to her. Same with the other two attacks she'd used so far. He'd never expected her to be able to use such advanced attacks during this tournament.

It seemed that Melon could not only absorb energy from a person but also the knowledge of attacks that they've used recently. However, he was limited to stealing attacks that they'd actually performed—not just known about in theory. He hated to admit it, but Tessa's procrastination had turned out to serve as a benefit to her.

* * *

Tessa ended the attack and waited patiently to see what effect, if any, it had on her opponent. If she'd done it correctly it was supposed to keep him bound and in a lot of pain too. The air cleared and Melon lowered himself down to the platform going to his hands and knees. Thinking he was defeated she lowered herself as well but she was wrong. Very wrong.

He was still on his knees when her toes hit the platform and she stood in front of him, her hands planted on her hips. She could see his chest heaving as his heart rate and breathing were accelerated. "Had enough yet?"

"No. I'm just getting started." With a great shout, he slammed his fists down on the platform causing it to split and break apart. The crowd fell into a hush as they watched a large crack rip straight through the platform and between Tessa's legs. As it cracked, large pieces of tile and rock broke off and flew into the air sending Tessa off balance. She fell onto her back and scrambled to push herself back up so that she was leaning back on her hands.

She could see nothing for all the wreckage that was heaving itself into the air and the thick cloud of dust that was rising around her. A second shock wave ripped through the stone platform causing the crack to widen and threatened to swallow her as she tried to straddle it. She rolled to the side to avoid falling through and had to tumble backwards then to avoid having a large piece of rock land on her chest. As she tumbled, she rolled into a back hand spring so that she landed on her feet as the platform finally stopped shaking.

Her gaze fell on the gaping crack that she had almost fallen through moments ago and her gaze followed it across the expanse of the platform to the feet of her opponent. Her eyes drifted upwards as she observed the changes Melon had undergone in some kind of a transformation. He was taller now, nearing the height of Piccolo, and was thicker, his muscles bulging, the veins strained and stretched beneath the skin with increased power and strength. He was a sick ash gray color, his hair longer and unkempt, and his ears were now pointed.

_A demon, _she realized blinking,_ I really know how to pick them_. "I guess Piccolo was right. Appearances really aren't everything." Tessa stared at the ashen Melon as she forced the sick feeling back down her throat. She couldn't help but think of how ironic that just a few days ago, Piccolo had tried to warn her that she couldn't judge a fighter simply on how they looked. Of course, she'd been too naïve to believe him and now she was finding out the hard way that he had been completely right. Not just about fighting, but about people in general.

"And you haven't seen anything yet," he promised giving her a come hither motion.

Tessa narrowed her eyes before jumping at him. _Only one way to find out if this is just what he really looks like, or a power boost. Dive in head first. _He was slightly slower because of his increased bulk, but he was still able to block all of her punches and kicks. He abruptly grabbed the front of her uniform and tossed her away easily. She skidded across the platform on her back over the loose stones and gravel finally coming to a stop with her upper body hanging off the edge.

Before she could get back up, Melon was on top of her with a foot on her stomach and the other planted on her neck. She groaned under his weight as he tried to force her head down to touch the grass. The more she struggled to get out from under him, the harder it became for her to breathe. She arched her back trying to upset his balance and then realized how stupid she was being. Her hands were free and she immediately grabbed his ankle lifting it up off her neck. His lips curled back in a growling sneer as he put more of his weight on that leg. She put all of her strength into one final push and managed to finally push him off balance. He stumbled back, stepping off her stomach as well.

She was up in a flash before he could get a second opportunity and she took to the air. He immediately followed her giving her no opportunity to properly defend herself against his attack. His fist connected with her jaw and along with the searing pain there was a sense of the wind being knocked out of her as some of her energy was transferred from her body to his. She knew that she couldn't afford too much more of that before it took a major toll on her mind and body.

She didn't have long to think about it before she was hit with an energy blast at close range. She hadn't even seen it coming. It sent her flying into the platform face first. She was so out of it that she never had a chance to try and stop herself from falling. All she could hear was the absolute silence broken by Melon's laughter as she collided with the platform with a sickening crunch.

* * *

Trish watched the match with mixed emotions. She was shocked by the speed and brutality of the match just like everyone else who was watching. The only one who seemed unfazed was Piccolo. Yet in the back of her mind, she had known to expect something of this nature. Tessa was no usual girl and was a skilled fighter to state the obvious. Although she knew little to nothing of the girl's past, Trish wouldn't doubt if it was just as out of this world as the green man beside her.

Everything had changed so quickly that Trish couldn't even recall how long the match had been going on at all. Now some gray demon-like creature had replaced the once handsome Melon. She was disgusted by the thought that she had once thought this creature was the perfect match for her newfound friend. He seemed so bent on winning that he was willing to kill Tessa in the process and put everyone else in the arena in harm's way to accomplish his goal.

She watched dismayed as Tessa fell like a downed bird into the platform. She landed in a messy heap creating an indentation in the already destroyed platform. The entire crowd flinched as if they too had all felt the same drop from fifty feet in the air at that incredible velocity.

Trish was now standing on her feet shouting for Tessa to get back up. Just to stand up and make the announcer stop counting. She could only hope for a miracle that would allow Tessa to pull a win out of this dreary situation that she was now faced with.

* * *

"One…Two…Three…" Tessa became vaguely aware of the announcer's voice counting with each number he shouted into his microphone. She groaned as she pushed herself back up. There was no way that she was going to let Melon win that easily. She'd rather die trying to win herself than let someone like him win by cheating. "Fo-oh…The match will continue!"

Melon frowned at her as she stood back up straight again. She brushed the dust off herself and felt as if every bone in her body should be broken and crushed but she knew better. _I can't quit now, _she thought, _I've come too far for that. And sometimes, you've just got to brush your shoulders off and keep going._

He waited patiently to see what her next move would be. He could almost see the wheels turning in her mind with each careful movement she made to brush herself off. Tessa could tell that Melon was giving her all the time she wanted. She didn't know why, but he was. She could also tell that they both had the same thing in mind-the best possible match with each fighting at their max. She decided to give him exactly what he wanted. Besides, this might be the last time that she could go down like that and still manage to get back up in time, if at all.

Closing her eyes, she clenched her fists and tightened every muscle in her body until a brilliant green aura appeared with a flash and spark around her body. It quickly began to lose its green shading as it faded to white. It danced around her like flames, picking rocks and rubble into the air. With a shout, her feet dug into the platform making the indentation even deeper and the rubble no longer hovered but flew into the air like missiles.

She reopened her eyes to find her vision blurred by her hair hanging in her face. She blew upward on the red strands with a smile as the hair moved back into place. Her vision was like looking through a pair of dark shades as she looked through a blood red aura. Like a snap, the dream she'd had the night before came back to her. It seemed like so long ago, another lifetime almost and in truth it almost was. _A Super Saiyan. That must be what I've become. I did it._ "Well Melon, let's see if you have what it takes to face a Super Saiyan." She moved into the air to come back up to his level. He was literally shaking as he watched her. Flight suddenly seemed so easy; something accomplished without thought, like breathing. "Gee, look at that. I finally got you quaking in your boots."

Wanting to test her newfound strength she attacked him viciously without warning. There was no contest between the two of them now, Tessa was obviously the superior in speed and strength. Although she'd grown stronger, she hadn't changed in size and her lean frame made her quick.

Tessa grabbed Melon where his shoulder met his neck squeezing down on the pressure point until his face scrunched up in pain. "This is how it ends." She held her hand up to his chest, a ball of golden energy growing and ready.

"Do you really have what it takes to kill someone?" She stopped short of blasting him at such close range obviously thinking over what he'd just said. Her brow creased with thought as he continued talking. "You're too young to have that hanging over your head forever."

"Since when did you care?" Tessa tightened her grip on him and held her hand closer to his chest. He flinched noticeably and Tessa could feel herself smirking. The tide had turned in her favor.

* * *

Trish never did sit down again. How could she? Tessa had managed to pull off a miraculous comeback. She'd gone through some kind of dramatic change herself and she'd heard Piccolo muttering something about a transformation beside her. Although she couldn't help but think that that was a total duh, she just wanted to know how Tessa was taking all that heat. It looked as if she was burning up and those eyes…Tessa's eyes were now completely white. There were no pupils anymore, just eerie glowing whites.

But in all honesty, Trish was a nervous wreck. She gripped the wall in front of her with both hands. She couldn't hear what they were saying above her but they'd both stopped fighting. They were motionless up there, seventy-five feet in the air. It looked as if Tessa was the one in control of the situation and she had a firm grip on Melon's shoulder. But Trish was worried that Tessa had gone off the deep end with a few too many knocks to the head. She looked murderous up there with one hand holding a golden ball of energy. The flaming aura was still surrounded her and did nothing to dispel the dangerous look.

* * *

"I think I can handle the thought of wiping a slime ball off Earth," she replied calmly. Melon just stared at her unblinking. She couldn't decide if he'd accepted the fact that she was going to kill him or if he knew something that she didn't. She wasn't going to waste any more time with small talk. She shot him straight through the chest and dropped him.

She felt no emotion whatsoever as she watched him fall into a crumpled heap below her. That's what scared her most though; there was no remorse, fear of the consequences, nothing. She was empty.

A hush fell over the crowd as they all stared at the still body lying in the midst of the heaping rubble that had once been a magnificent fighting platform. There hadn't been a match that had ended like this in years and people were unsure of how to react to such a violent end.

The announcer himself was caught off guard and forgot to begin the countdown until Tessa landed a few feet away from Melon's unmoving form. "Uh right then…One…Two…Three…" Tessa stared at Melon's back just daring him to get back up when she got a strange sense—woman's intuition—that she wasn't out of the water yet. "Seven…Eight…" The announcer stopped his counting as he stared along with everyone else including Tessa. Melon was stirring and getting back on his feet. There was a hole in his shirt that had been burned away by Tessa's blast, but his chest looked unharmed.

"I knew your heart was too small of a target," Tessa spat out. Melon was devoid of expression as he fingered the hole in silence then stared at her blankly. He still couldn't figure out where she had gotten so much power from. But that would have to wait if he was to be able to beat her now. No matter how hard he looked, he could find no weakness to her. She had no rhythm, no pattern to take advantage of. She also had enough knowledge of attacks that she hadn't practiced before in order to still be unpredictable to him. "Enough games, Melon. Attack me or step out." Her eyes were a mysterious white that shimmered and sparkled in the noon sun. Despite the bright color, they still glinted darkly to show just how serious she was. When she got no response, a sly grin tugged up on the corners of her lips. "Let's raise the stakes then. If I win, you go back to Otherworld and never come back to Earth."

"And if I win?" he implored.

"Same fate." He considered it and nodded. It seemed to him that it would be a fitting end for the she-devil to be banished to Otherworld. She could meet some other witches that way. Little did he know that Tessa was simply setting up a win-win situation for herself. Now, no matter how this battle ended, she would be going to Otherworld and then on to train with King Kai. That is if she hadn't misunderstood what Piccolo had told her.

Melon began attacking her and she went on defense slowly backing up towards the edge of the platform. A smirk was quickly growing on his face as he saw this as him winning. Once she reached the edge she stepped aside quickly as he threw a punch at her. When he missed and went off balance, she jammed her elbow into the center of his back, knocking him to the grass below. He stumbled and fell pitifully, face-planting into the green blades. There was a pause of stunned silence before the crowd erupted with applause.

It was over but still Tessa felt on edge and as if she had just gotten started. It didn't matter that she'd spent nearly an entire week fighting nearly a dozen different people. She looked down at her hands to see the red aura still dancing around her like flames. It was just as strong in presence as when she'd first transformed. _Energy to spare,_ she thought, _and more._ She ran a hand through her red hair as Melon got back to his feet. "You won," he said still a little surprised that he'd made such a stupid mistake as to get cocky with her when she'd clearly shown him she held the upper hand. She'd had far more speed than him and he should have known better than to get to close to the edge of the platform himself.

"Don't sound so surprised. Now about our deal…" she said as she narrowed her eyes at him distrustfully, her arms crossing tightly over her chest. Only then did she allow herself to power back down, the aura fading away and her eyes turning dark brown once more.

"I _know_; you don't need to rub it in," he hissed, his demon form slipping away until he looked just as he had when they'd met. Well almost. Now he had a thin trickle of blood coming down from his hairline. She watched him walk away and hoped that he'd be smart enough to not try and double-cross her. She'd track him down and personally escort him to the gates of hell if necessary.

Tessa felt someone jump onto her back and throw their arms around her neck. She peered back over her shoulder and smiled when she saw Trish. Trish gave her a big bear hug before waving a hand over both of their heads. "You did it! It was so awesome. I had my doubts…but you did it!"

"Tessa…" Tessa looked away from her friend to the announcer. He stood at the edge of the platform holding the check for the prize money and Tessa hooked her arms under her friend's knees to carry her piggy back. "I believe this is yours." He waved the check in front of her and Tessa could hear her friend gasp at all the zeros.

Tessa shook her head. "Trish needs it more than me."

Trish's eyes sparkled as she took the check for a million Yen. "I can't. Not after all you went through," the girl protested slipping down from Tessa's back and staring down at the check in awe.

"Use it to help your brother. Besides, what am I going to do with all of it?" _When I plan on leaving as soon as possible for destinations unknown, _she thought but didn't add aloud.

Trish gave Tessa another tight hug before pulling back slightly to gaze down at her. "Thank you so much." Tears welled at the corners of her eyes as she quickly wiped them away before they could spill over. "You have no idea what this means to me. My brother is everything."

_You're right. I don't have a clue, _she thought sadly, _I only wish I did know what it was like to have family._ But Tessa said nothing, only gave her friend another hug.

Trish could no longer hide the tears as they streamed down her cheeks leaving telltale trails. "I'll never forget you. You're such an awesome friend." She wiped her cheek once more giving Tessa a happy smile before hurrying away. All the better for Tessa, she hated good-byes. Tessa blinked to force her own tears back, her gaze falling on nothing in particular as she allowed the sounds of the shuffling masses to create a dull roar of white noise. It felt as if she could just disappear.

"I'm impressed."

"Those are two words I thought I'd never hear you say," Tessa said softly as she turned to look back up at her teacher who approached her from behind.

There was a slight smile on his face as he placed a hand on her shoulder and she forced a small smile in return. How could she not reward his effort with a little of her own? His were far more rare. "Vegeta told me about Super Saiyans. I was just too little to really believe him." She took no notice of Piccolo's expression at the mention of the Saiyan name. She was on an emotional high or low, she couldn't tell, but it had left her feeling rather numb to any new information.

"Yes, they're real, but you're not quite there yet," Piccolo corrected her, never releasing his grip on her shoulder as the corners of his mouth finally twitched back into their usual downward position.

Tessa frowned looking around at the emptying arena and then smiled to herself. "I guess I'm off to see King Kai. Maybe with his training I'll be able to become one," she said hopefully before looking back up at him once more. Her expression fell once more upon seeing his somber look.

"Yes about that…"

* * *

Tessa stood staring at Piccolo. Her mouth hung open and she had no reason or urge to shut it again. Talk about dropping the bomb on someone. Piccolo had definitely failed to mention all of this to her before she'd made the decision that she wanted to train under King Kai. "I HAVE TO DIE!?" she shrilled. By now the tournament grounds were so far emptied that no one even heard her exclamation. Piccolo nodded his head silently. She felt like trying to go through the transformation again just to see if she could kill him. She was infuriated that he'd held something like that back. He seemed to find nothing wrong with the notion though, the only thing wrong here was how worked up she was getting herself. Because why would anyone ever get irked about the idea of laying down on the sword, offing themselves, or just ceasing to exist after a meager sixteen years. "I have to die, walk along this Snake Way until I find a small planet, and then I may—_MAY_—be allowed to train with King Kai. There's no guarantees?!" Again, another nod from Piccolo. He seemed to not even be looking at her but more past her. If anything, his nonchalance only pissed her off even more. "And what am I supposed to do? Walk in front of a Mac truck? I don't think that's even going to work at this point," she snapped crossing her arms over her chest in her last ditch attempt to keep her hands from working their way around his long, skinny, green neck.

Piccolo sighed with impatience. By now, he thought he'd be used to her Saiyan sized temper tantrums but she was hysterical. He watched her with curiosity and tried to understand how she felt. Yes, she was sixteen and he was basically asking her to say goodbye to everything she knew, but she wasn't letting him finish. "When you're done training, you can be brought back with the Dragonballs."

"Dragonballs, my ass. I don't care. I'm just a kid as you constantly throw in my face and I'm too young to die!" she wailed. She looked pitiful as she stood in the empty arena pouting at him. No longer was she the fiery Saiyan who'd proven that she was a force to be reckoned with. Her pout suddenly turned to a look of white hot anger though. "That's what you've been holding back isn't it! You didn't want to tell me the truth about having to die before I could train more." Her brows furrowed accusingly at him and she rocked up onto the balls of her feet as if that would somehow lessen the great height difference between him. The two inches didn't matter—she still looked fierce.

"No…" Her anger just as quickly became confusion. She had been so sure of her assumption that she was suddenly unsure of what to think. _If it hadn't been that, then what?_

"Tell me, Piccolo." Her words had come out icily clear. She wanted to know the truth and nothing short of it. She drummed her fingers impatiently on her forearm and watched him as he swallowed uneasily.

This was ground he didn't want to cover right now, but he didn't really see any other options as she would probably learn the truth anyway once she was in Otherworld. And it was better for her to know what to expect. It may or may not have an effect on whether she'd be allowed to train with anyone over there. "When you first came to train with me, I was just as curious as you are about your past." She stood staring at him maliciously. She didn't understand what the point of his story was and she didn't like not knowing one bit. He paused as if trying to find the right words. "When you weren't sleeping well, I looked at your dreams, hoping to find answers there."

"You invaded my privacy! They're my dreams, not your entertainment!" she seethed. "If you were so damn bored, you should have summoned up a television and an HBO subscription. Better yet, a whole damn motel so I could actually sleep in a bed. Bedbugs would have been preferable to the rocks I used for pillows all those months." If she thought that dying had been difficult to understand she was having even more difficulty comprehending the reason for him to invade her mind.

"It was anything but that, Tessa." She scowled at him not finding his apology of any good. "But I did find out about your past some. Things that you still have blocked from your memory."

"I don't want to hear it…at least not from you," she seethed. But somehow she knew that she was unable to stop the words that continued to spill from his mouth.

"Vegeta is your brother. You can't remember because of all that happened with Frieza, but he's your brother." Tessa stared wide-eyed at Piccolo. All this time, she had a brother, and yet he had never thought to tell her that. It explained so much now, but still she couldn't believe it.

She was so accustomed to the idea of being an orphan that even as her memories of being a Saiyan had just started to come back it had never occurred to her that she'd had a family then either. "No. Enough of your lies," she said softly as she closed her eyes and shook her head. It was denial, but it was easier than imagining that all this time she'd had a family. It was cruel that she'd never really had a chance to know them, and even worse that she'd forgotten them.

"Why would I lie?"

She hated him. That was all that mattered to her anymore. Dying suddenly didn't seem like all that bad of an idea. It would at least get her very, very far away from Piccolo. It never occurred to her that if she'd been better about meditation like he'd wanted, she wouldn't be just finding this out now. She could have discovered for herself—months ago. "It can't be true," she snapped. "You said he'd been alive millennia ago. If he's my brother, how the hell did I get to the here and now, huh? Tell me that, oh great and powerful dream voyeurist!" She could only stare at him seething through clenched teeth as tears forced themselves from her eyes to spill down over her cheeks. Never before in her life had she felt so indignant. He'd known that she had a brother for all this time, practically since they'd first met and he never thought to tell her. Not until right before she needed to leave.

"I don't know," he sighed. "I never did learn that part. I'm sorry."

"I hate you." She hadn't honestly thought that her words would hurt him, but he flinched obviously not liking the way they sounded coming from her. She didn't like the fact that he'd kept from her possibly the most important thing she could possibly think of—a family. Something that she could have been looking for or finding more about. "Is there more that you thought you'd leave out?"

"No." His word was crisp and tainted with his own hurt feelings. She could've cared less though if his feelings were hurt. He meant nothing to her in her severely blurred vision now. It didn't matter that he'd been the one to find her, the one to give her something to keep waking up for in the morning. _You can't open a can of worms and then close it._

"Then just get this the heck over with. I don't have anything worth living for," she said turning roughly out from under his hand and showing him her back. She closed her eyes and only felt a moment of intense force on her back and it was over.


End file.
